Though the Division I Legislative Council will reconsider the adoption of sand volleyball as an emerging sport later this week, several Division I governance groups have introduced legislative proposals shaping the sport in case it stays on the books with an August 1, 2010, effective date.

One proposal from the Recruiting and Athletics Personnel Cabinet would limit the number of sand volleyball coaches to four for institutions that sponsor both women’s and sand volleyball and two for institutions that sponsor only sand volleyball. The proposal would also limit the number of off-campus recruiters to two.

Allowing an increase in coaches for institutions that sponsor both sports is intended to enhance life/work balance and to allow sand volleyball student-athletes the opportunity to train in the off-season.

Another proposal from the recruiting cabinet would limit coaches to 100 evaluation days per year (August 1 through July 31) for institutions that sponsor only sand volleyball or both sand and women’s volleyball. Evaluation days would remain at 80 for institutions that sponsor only women’s volleyball. The cabinet reasoned that because of the few opportunities to evaluate sand volleyball players, much of the evaluation would be conducted during women’s volleyball competition.

The Awards, Benefits, Expenses and Financial Aid Cabinet is sponsoring legislation that would create a phased-in approach to financial aid for institutions that sponsor both the sand and indoor games. Institutions that sponsor sand volleyball will be limited to only eight equivalencies and 14 counters.

Schools would phase in the scholarships as follows:

• In 2010-11: three equivalencies
• In 2011-12: four equivalencies
• In 2012-13: five equivalencies
• In 2013-14 and after: six equivalencies

The cabinet advocated the phased-in approach for institutions that sponsor both sports in part to allow schools to build a balanced team with scholarship athletes in each class and to ease into financing a new sport.

“This approach also acknowledges the fact that in those initial years at least, institutions would probably rely on using indoor players to round out their sand team,” cabinet Chair Grace Calhoun said.

Calhoun, an associate athletics director at Indiana, said the group wanted any sand volleyball student-athlete who also practices or competes with the women’s volleyball team to count in both sports.

“That gets at the concern of stockpiling – that you could bring in six additional full scholarship athletes or 12 athletes on half scholarships and just stockpile them for your indoor program,” Calhoun said. “As soon as they practice with your indoor team, they’ll count there.”

The cabinets introduced the proposals for the 2009-10 legislative cycle, but if the original measure authorizing the addition of sand volleyball to the emerging-sports list is overturned by the Legislative Council during its July 30 teleconference, the Board of Directors or the membership because of the override process, the measures would be moot.

For more on sand volleyball, see the feature in Champion magazine.