NCAA News Archive - 2010

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    Division I blocks effort to spike sand game

    Jan 15, 2010 8:19:20 PM

    By Michelle Brutlag Hosick
    The NCAA News

     

    ATLANTA – Division I paved the way for student-athletes to play varsity sand volleyball Friday when members defeated an attempt to repeal legislation adding the sand game as an emerging sport for women.

    The override attempt failed narrowly. With a five-eighths majority of those present and voting required to overturn legislation, the 58 percent of delegates who supported the override was not enough.

    The 14-week baseball season was also preserved during the Division I business session by a 63-37 margin.

    The sand volleyball proposal, supported by the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, originated with the Committee on Women's Athletics and was intended to help institutions provide more athletics opportunities for women to play college sports at a relatively low cost. Opponents argued that the sport might have an adverse effect on current hard-court programs and that it could provide a competitive advantage to warm-weather institutions. They also said the sand game might be more expensive than advertised.

    "The number of opportunities is small compared to the cost," said Connie Dillon, faculty athletics representative at Oklahoma and a member of the Championships/Sport Management Cabinet. "We would have more opportunities if we put those costs into something like expanding scholarship opportunities in sports such as gymnastics or track and field."

    Danielle Neault, a student-athlete from Pacific and a member of the Division I SAAC, told the assembly that for her and the 160,000 student-athletes she represents, the question was not about cost or weather or playing and practice seasons but about opportunities for women.

    "Your actions today can fulfill the dreams of many young women for years to come," she said. "You have the opportunity to give thousands of female student-athletes the chance to play a Division I sport."

    Proponents argued that the legislation was permissive and would not require institutions to add a sport they did not feel would be successful.

    The Board of Directors is expected to delay the effective date of the proposal to August 2011 to give the governance structure time to develop a framework for the sport. Several legislative proposals shaping the playing and practice season, recruiting and coaching limits and financial aid limits are already in the 2009-10 legislative cycle and will be addressed by the Legislative Council in April.

    The baseball proposal essentially pitted Northern institutions against those in the South, with Northern schools arguing that adding a week to the beginning of the baseball season would cause their teams to miss more class time by forcing them to play more games on the road early in the year. More road trips also equated to more expenses.

    Southern schools contended that playing the same number of games (56) in 13 weeks would require more midweek games, also resulting in additional missed class time.

    Matt Baysinger, chair of the Division I SAAC and a track and field student-athlete at Kansas, noted the priority the Association has placed on the academic performance of baseball student-athletes.

    "Proponents will put cold-weather schools at a competitive disadvantage. The intent addresses an issue that is far greater than geographic inequity," he said. "This proposal was created to ensure baseball student-athletes have the opportunity to make academics their priority."

    The votes marked the fifth consecutive year the division has considered overrides at the annual Convention.