It comes once a year. We "notice" it as the holiday season approaches, often arriving sooner than expected, with increased volume. No, the "it" I speak of is not the holiday music that dominates our radio stations by the first of November; "it" is the NCAA Division I Official Notice.

The holidays for the NCAA Division I membership are not unlike those spent with family. Each institution gathers with their conference to spin stories of the past year, chuckling about wins and losses and rivalries relived. Giving is abundant this year, as each member will provide the conference with gifts in the form of legislative votes on the more than 150 proposals in the Official Notice.

For the first time in its history, the family of Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee members met for a weekend in November to review those gifts, spreading an array of legislative joy from campuses to conferences and, finally, to the national SAAC. There were several gifts that were more special than the rest, including Proposal Nos. 04-40 A, B and C (playing and practice seasons modifications), and Proposal No. 04-46 (length of SAAC terms); and the package of proposals from the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association that address access and recruiting.

Care was taken not to rip into these special gifts, as each tug at the paper provoked a new perspective we needed to consider.

Our first gift, Proposal Nos. 04-40 A, B and C, was at first difficult to understand, as many of us became lost in the pages of bold and italic wording. Yet, as we unwrapped it, the complexity of the proposal was transparent and our voice was strong: We do not wish to shorten our seasons through these means. Inherent in Proposal Nos. 04-40 A, B and C is a year-long competitive outlook, where the number of countable contests must be spread across the academic calendar -- coaches must decide when to play, in or out of the championship season. However, by reducing the number of total contests, the competitive aspect of the nonchampionship segments erodes and the ability to engage in eight hours of weekly practice becomes a repetitive exercise in futility.

As student-athletes, we find ourselves performing well academically when we must balance our time in both the championship season and the nonchampionship segment between some practice and competition. A rule that addresses the time demands associated with competition from a seasonal standpoint -- championship and nonchampionship -- would more appropriately address the balancing act student-athletes face.

Second, we opened a very personal gift, Proposal No. 04-46, a proposal that would allow student-athletes to serve on the SAAC up to one year after they complete their eligibility.

The composition of our committee is orchestrated to most effectively represent our peers in the governance structure. National SAAC representation demands several responsibilities: listening to the voice of student-athletes in our conferences; communicating that voice to the national SAAC; constantly engaging in membership issues that pertain to student-athlete well-being; and fully participating in all committee functions, including committee meetings.

For the most part, members of our committee live up to these responsibilities. Yet we find that some members stumble as they struggle to find the time to understand legislation, to stay engaged, and make meetings at the national and conference level because of school and competition commitments. Those student-athletes are not to blame, as their scholastic and athletics performance outweighs their committee responsibility. Regardless, the SAAC strides ahead, using a number of members who have the time, have the experience, and have graduated from their undergraduate institution, ending their athletics eligibility within the past year. Those are the committee members who are essential to our mission. Those are the individuals who have put in the time to master the responsibility. And those are the former student-athletes whom this legislation seeks to utilize by allowing them to serve.

The largest package was saved for last, as our committee labored before opening the large number of men's and women's basketball proposals. Should we look at the massive package in its entirety, address the men's issues separately from the women's, or should we take each proposal on its own merit? To be fair, we took all those approaches. Macroscopically, we applaud the men's and women's basketball coaches associations for this ethical and responsibility-driven overhaul of a sport the media criticizes and our peers love to play. The package as whole is palpable, with origins that are pure.

As we began to take it apart, opening each of the proposals one at a time, the sense of palpability was lost and a hole once filled by proposals made the structure transparent and, in our opinion, not as strong as it could be. In particular, several proposals -- Proposal Nos. 04-115 A, B and C, and Proposal No. 04-116 -- muddied the concept of student-athlete time demands, moving the benefits of pick-up games, voluntary practices, and the buffer players and coaches at times need to have, to full-on coaching sessions. As student-athletes, we live the experience of "voluntary" workouts, and we believe a proposal that checks coaches' compliance with the "voluntary" rule would be more beneficial than creating increased time demands.

We decided not to take a formal position on some of the other basketball proposals, as we found ourselves engaged in discussion of basic coaching philosophies and concepts that should already be in place.

So, as quickly as the holidays begin, they come as quickly to an end. For the weekend of gift-giving and proposal-opening this November, the Division I SAAC was like a family -- divided at times and unanimous at others. The voices of our peers from campuses and conferences echoed through the room, as SAAC members do what they do best during the holidays: represent student-athletes.

Ian Gray is a former cross country student-athlete at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and current vice-chair of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.