The Division II Men's and Women's Soccer Committees discussed preseason conditioning policies during their annual meetings February 10-13 in Indianapolis and agreed to recommend a modified version that applies specifically to soccer.

The men's committee received a presentation on a preseason conditioning model developed for football and discussed how that model would apply to soccer.

Committee members noted that there are fundamental differences between the two sports that apply to not only the way student-athletes are conditioned, but also in the way they prepare to compete. For example, committee members noted that typically, football preseason practices tend to be longer and structured differently than the shorter sessions in soccer, which means that the conditioning model prescribed for football may not apply as well to soccer.

Thus, the men's committee drafted a soccer-specific model for review by the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports that includes the following points:

Before participation in any preseason practice activities, all prospects and student-athletes initially entering the program shall be required to undergo a medical examination administered by a physician.

Student-athletes shall not engage in more than 20 hours of physical activity per week. (Physical activity includes all activities related to the sport, such as warm-ups, stretching, practice, strength conditioning and walk-throughs.)

Institutions shall not conduct more than two practice sessions per day during the preseason period.

During the preseason period, all physically related activities shall be prohibited during one day per week (including Sunday).

On days that institutions conduct multiple practice sessions, student-athletes must be provided with at least three continuous hours of recovery time between the end of the first practice and the start of the second practice that day. During this time, student-athletes may not attend any meetings or engage in other athletics activities (for example, weight lifting); however, time spent receiving treatment and eating meals may be included as part of the recovery time.

Because extensions in the preseason time frame place new time demands on sports medicine personnel and affect athletics department financial commitments, these issues should be addressed adequately at the institutional level.

The revised model, which also was supported by the women's soccer committee, would allow multiple practice sessions during the five-day acclimatization period, though such sessions must be separated by the three-hour recovery window. The men's committee agreed to discuss the proposed model with conferences and independent institutions before forwarding it to the Division II Championships Committee in June.

In addition to reviewing the preseason conditioning model, the men's and women's committees also recommended sites for the combined championships in 2005 and 2006. The Division II Championships Committee will review those recommendations this spring.

The 2004 championships will be at Midwestern State University. The women's championship will be played Thursday and Saturday, while the men's championship will be conducted Friday and Sunday. The committees previously had agreed to rotate the days from year to year, but the women's committee was so pleased with the Thursday/Saturday format that both groups agreed to maintain that format.

Other actions

In other actions taken by the men's committee, the group reviewed an exception to the Division II regionalization policy that recently was granted to football. The Division II Championships Committee asked that all other sports committees review the policy to see if similar exceptions would be warranted. After review, though, the men's soccer committee agreed that the current application of regionalization was appropriate for soccer.

The men's soccer committee also:

Discussed an orientation call for new national committee and regional advisory committee members that would be conducted before team evaluations begin.

Discussed selection criteria but made no changes.

The women's soccer committee made minor modifications to its primary selection criteria and re-prioritized the secondary criteria.

When selecting teams for the championship, the committee shall consider the following selection criteria (not in preferential order):

Overall won-lost record;

Overall strength-of-schedule index;

In-region Division II won-lost record;

In-region Division II head-to-head competition;

In-region Division II strength-of-schedule index;

In-region Division II results against common opponents;

In-region Division II power rating; and

Eligibility and availability of student-athletes for the NCAA championship.

When teams under consideration are tied on all criteria, the committee selects teams by looking at the following criteria in rank priority order:

Division II head-to-head results;

Division II results against common opponents in region;

Division II in-region strength-of-schedule index;

Division II results against teams within the region outside the conference; and

Division II results against teams already selected.

Committee members also discussed officiating assignments and emphasized the need to increase the number of quality female officials working the tournament. Committee members agreed to have regional committee chairs work with regional assignors to identify qualified female officials.

The women's soccer committee also:

Agreed that during first- and second-round competition, the pretournament coaches meeting will be held a minimum of three hours before game time and that all four participating coaches will be required to attend.

Voted to continue requesting that bids from institutions interested in hosting first-and second-round competition be submitted by the deadline; however, to ensure that potential quarterfinal hosts are adequately identified and prepared for successive rounds of the tournament, the committee will extend the deadline under specific circumstances after selections are made.