The Division III Management Council supports bringing a proposal to the 2010 Convention to simplify tryout legislation, saying some of its current provisions were written before the NCAA was federated in 1997 and are not needed in Division III.

The Council, which met this week in Indianapolis, forwarded four legislative proposals to the Division III Presidents Council to consider for sponsorship at the Convention. It also supported a recommendation to permit a student-athlete in six team sports to play in an alumni contest in addition to the nontraditional season’s one date of competition, without losing a season of participation.

Two of the four proposals relate to the tryout legislation in Bylaw 13, and initially were proposed by the Division III Interpretations and Legislation Committee.

The key proposal essentially would revise Bylaw 13.11 to emphasize activities that are prohibited under the legislation, while introducing a less “prescriptive” list of exceptions than currently exists.

The bylaw still would prohibit a traditional tryout in which a prospective student-athlete demonstrates athletic abilities under a coach’s direction, tryout-oriented events such as combines, and varsity competition against high school or prep school teams, but no longer would specify permissible activities, on the theory that if the activity is not listed, it can be considered permissible.

For example, the bylaw no longer would specify that a coach may work with a local sports club, or that prospective student-athletes in that club must live within 50 miles of the coach’s institution.

Meanwhile, the proposal would seek to reduce the bylaw’s current focus on conditions that must be met to qualify for an exception to the legislation, and give institutions more autonomy in overseeing involvement of personnel in various types of athletics events involving prospective student-athletes.

The tryout legislation recently has been a focus of attention in Division III. At the last Convention, delegates approved two proposals involving tryout exceptions to aid schools’ ability to host activities involving prospective student-athletes.

Another such proposal could be considered in 2010, as the Council voted in a separate action this week to propose permitting athletics staff members performing an institutional job function to supervise a public facility or serve as a lifeguard, even if it means the individual will observe prospective student-athletes in such situations.

The proposed new tryout exception would be included in legislation first proposed by the Council at its January meeting. The Council agreed then to sponsor a proposal  permitting an institution’s coaching staff member to observe non-organized sport-specific activities involving current student-athletes when that individual, as a part of regular employment duties, is monitoring a facility available to all students.

The Presidents Council will consider both the proposal to deregulate tryout legislation and the additional tryout exception during its April 30 meeting in Indianapolis.

The presidents also will be asked to consider permitting student-athletes to be involved in both a date of competition and an alumni contest during the nontraditional season without losing a season of participation – just months after Division III voted to permit baseball, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball and women’s volleyball student-athletes to play in the one date of competition without using a season.

The Management Council’s Playing and Practice Seasons Subcommittee raised the idea, saying that alumni contests serve more of a promotional or fund-raising than competitive or instructional purpose, and still would be conducted within the 16 permissible days of athletically related activity in those sports’ nontraditional seasons.

In an unrelated action involving alumni games, Council members also supported a proposal that would allow institutions to schedule the game any time during a nontraditional or traditional season segment, in sports that treat the game as an exempted contest. Alumni games currently must be played on or after the first permissible contest date, but the proposal would permit playing such games before that date.