The Committee on Women's Athletics is recommending that the Division III Presidents and Management Councils ask institutions that sponsor equestrian whether it should become an NCAA championship sport.

Equestrian is currently on the NCAA’s list of emerging sports, and 14 of the sport’s 38 sponsors are Division III schools.

The CWA, which met January 28-29 in Indianapolis, sees equestrian as the next sport to provide more athletics opportunities for women and an NCAA Championship.

Forty institutions must sponsor a sport at the varsity level before it can be considered for NCAA championship status. The CWA believes equestrian can meet that minimum.

The challenge ahead may be the variance in which equestrian is administered within the NCAA membership. Divisions I and II institutions recognize equestrian as an NCAA sport and abide by a defined playing and practice season. However, many Division III teams compete in events sanctioned by the International Horse Show Association that occur throughout the year and thus do not conform to a defined playing and practice season.

"Equestrian is so close to the benchmark number of 40," said CWA chair and St. Michael's College Athletics Director Geri Knortz. "If the concerns Division III has expressed can be overcome, we could see the sport’s participants offered the opportunity of an NCAA championship."

The CWA also discussed other possible emerging sports, receiving updates on synchronized swimming, squash, indoor field hockey, beach volleyball and rugby.

The CWA received a proposal from Juniata College, whose senior woman administrator Caroline Gillich also doubles as the institution's field hockey coach. Gillich believes she can generate enough interest to garner the 10 institutional commitments required for getting indoor field hockey on the list of emerging sports. CWA members reviewed the proposal and took no further action, pending commitments from other institutions.

 In other business, the CWA supported the NCAA Diversity Leadership Strategic Planning Committee's recommendation of having Divisions II and III institutions complete five-year gender-equity plans as part of the Institutional Self-Study Guide.

Institutions would be required to review the document annually to preclude inequities between men's and women's programs.

"Getting that requirement as part of the Institutional Self-Study Guide is the best way to handle it," Knortz said. "When people know they have a deadline, they get things done. People may be working toward the goal of having a gender-equity plan, but there is nothing like having an established document in place."

Division I institutions already are required to have five-year gender equity and diversity plans in place as part of the Division I athletics certification process.

The CWA, which cannot sponsor legislation, will forward its support of the recommendation to the Divisions II and III Membership Committees.

Other highlights

Committee on Women’s Athletics

January 28-29/Indianapolis

•         Continued discussing a membership toolkit scheduled to be completed in April that will be a resource for schools managing student-athlete pregnancies and parenting issues.

•         Discussed ways to enhance and increase exposure for the NCAA Woman of the Year event.

•         Heard research updates, including from the Barriers to Women in Athletics Career Survey, which emphasized life/work balance issues for coaches and administrators.

•         Reviewed programming offered through the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators and the Women Coaches Academy. The need for these programs grows in importance, particularly as the number of female coaches in intercollegiate athletics dwindles.  Researchers R. Vivian Acosta and Linda Jean Carpenter found that in 1972, 90 percent of coaches in female sports were women. In the last two years, that number was down to 42-43 percent.