The NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Committee has adjusted the deadline for soliciting bids for upcoming regional and championships sites.

Bid materials for the 2008 and 2009 regional competitions and the 2009 national championships will be available November 1, 2006. All bid materials will be due to the national office March 1, 2007, with recommendations forwarded to the Division I Championships/ Competition Cabinet in June.

Bid materials for the 2010 and 2011 regional competitions and national championships will be available March 1, 2007. The deadline to submit all bid materials for those events is June 1, 2007, so that the committee can review the information at its annual meeting. Recommendations will be forwarded to the cabinet in September 2007. The adjusted timeline will allow host institutions to better prepare for the events.

In addition to the site-selection process, the committee recommended modifying the team-selection process as well. After reviewing research and discussing options with the women’s gymnastics coaching community, committee members voted to select the top 36 teams based on regional qualifying scores. Currently, the top 18 teams receive automatic bids, and then the committee selects three teams from each of the six regions based on regional qualifying scores.

The committee will send the new format to the Division I Championships/
Competition Cabinet for approval in September for implementation with the 2008 championships. Each region will continue to be represented but will not have a guaranteed minimum number of teams represented. The top 18 teams will be seeded, and from there regional competition spots will be filled in order of regional qualifying scores. Teams will be kept within their own region as much as possible, and shifts to the next closest region will be made according to their regional qualifying scores.

The committee also decided to use the LZT vault table for the 2007 regionals and national championships. The committee discussed and communicated the potential change with the coaching membership in 2006. American Athletic Inc. will provide the vault table to regional and national host institutions in the event a host institution has not already purchased the vault table.

Committee members said that so many institutions were adopting the new table that even if a student-athlete’s own institution did not have one, the team would most likely compete at an institution that did.

The committee also clarified the phrase "up to the level of competition" with regard to playing rules in championships competition. Every "up to the level of competition" deduction will now be a flat 0.10 deduction. Previously, judges were allowed to take up to a 0.20 deduction. The full detailed listing of the new rule modifications will be distributed to the membership in September after approval from the Playing Rules Oversight Panel.

Committee members also adjusted the credential distribution at the championships to allow for an additional support staff person. Three support staff credentials will now be issued instead of two, mainly to accommodate a spot for athletic trainers. Institutions with individual participants will receive four nonparticipant credentials, regardless of the number of individual qualifiers. Previously, the number of credentials was contingent upon the number of individual participant qualifiers, but that condition will be eliminated.

A temporary floor pass may be issued to a team physician as requested on the entry form. If possible, team physicians will be seated in an area that is easily accessible to the competition floor in the event of an injury. That temporary floor pass does not provide access to the venue, and a ticket will need to be purchased for official entry into the venue. One temporary access credential also is available for the institution’s administrator to attend press conferences and post-meet activities only (it is nontransferable).

Participants or staff members who misplace their credential will be issued a replacement at a cost equal to that of an all-sessions ticket.

The committee also made the following changes to the conduct of the championships: