Two new videos featuring the chairs of three influential governance bodies give viewers additional insight into the Division II Life in the Balance initiative.

The four-proposal Life in the Balance package for the 2010 Convention is designed to provide a more balanced college experience for student-athletes by streamlining seasons and reducing contests in sports where appropriate. The proposals affect 10 sports, including basketball. They also introduce a later reporting period for fall-sport student-athletes and a seven-day dead period for winter sports during the holiday break.

Presidents Council chair Stephen Jordan and Management Council chair Tim Selgo provide a general overview of the initiative’s intent during the first video. That tandem participated in an earlier video that introduced the Life in the Balance effort this summer.

“The balance of athletics, academics and community engagement – the elements that we think are essential in creating the whole person – weren’t in the right balance,” Jordan says in the latest video. “We need to redistribute some of the time so that when students leave our campuses they are a complete citizen.

“For us, the most important principles are the balance in student-athletes’ lives, acting out the missions of our colleges and universities, the importance of the partial-scholarship model in Division II and the importance of providing as many opportunities to participate in national championships as possible. All of those are preserved in this legislation.”

Selgo, the athletics director at Grand Valley State, says student-athletes should have the opportunity to be involved in the college experience beyond athletics.

“It is ‘Life in the Balance,’ because that’s what we truly believe occurs in Division II,” he says.

The second video is an overview of the four proposals from the perspective of Ann Martin, chair of the Division II Legislation Committee. Martin’s group was the primary body in charge of developing the legislative proposals from among the dozens of ideas garnered through collaboration with coaches associations, conference commissioners, athletics directors and other constituents.

Division II delegates will vote on the four Life in the Balance proposals at the Division II business session January 16 in Atlanta.

For more on the proposals, click here.