National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Jun 11, 2010 11:31:55 AM

The Division II Championships and Legislation Committees found consensus this week on several proposals relating to Phase II of the Life in the Balance initiative – and also on a few that don't necessarily relate.

Convening jointly Wednesday at the conclusion of their summer meetings, the committees supported five approaches involving Phase II concepts. The groups recommended:

• No changes to legislation regulating the number of annual and discretionary contest exemptions.
• A start date of September 7 or the fourth day of classes, whichever is earlier, for practice and competition in the nonchampionship segment of spring sports.
• Creation of a figure for the Division II Manual that will illustrate countable and noncountable athletically related activities under the 20/8-hour rule. The figure will not appear in the 2010-11 printed version of the Manual but will be available through the LSDBi as soon as it is finalized.
•  In basketball and spring championship sports, outside of the playing season during the academic year, to permit a student-athlete's participation in a maximum of two hours of full team activities per week from the beginning of the institution's academic year in the fall term through the day before the first permissible practice date. In fall championship sports, outside of the playing season during the academic year, to permit a student-athlete's participation in a maximum of two hours of full team activities per week from the first day of classes in the winter or spring term through February 15. The proposal also would specify that outside of the playing season after the Division II championship to one week before the beginning of the institution's final examination period, a student-athlete could participate in no more than two hours per week of skill instruction as part of the permissible eight hours of required countable athletically related activities.
• In basketball, swimming and diving, and indoor track and field, a start date of September 15 would be established for all countable athletically related activities (for example, conditioning or physical-fitness activities supervised by coaching staff members, preseason practice).

Those recommendations will be advanced to the Division II Management Council and Presidents Council, which will both meet later this summer.

Management Council chair Kathleen Brasfield, athletics director at Angelo State, sounded a balanced tone in giving the two committees a charge at the beginning of the meeting.

"We have an opportunity, an opportunity to make sure we get it right," she said. " ‘Review' does not necessarily mean ‘reduce' ... We should keep in mind the competitive integrity of Division II sports."

To that end, several matters that had been discussed division-wide throughout the winter and spring were acted upon, although the actions didn't necessarily fit under the Life in the Balance umbrella. The Legislation Committee will forward those proposals to the Management Council, which will meet July 19-20.

Phase I of Life in the Balance, approved at the January Convention, streamlined seasons and reduced contests in 10 sports. It also established a seven-day dead period during the winter break.

As the committees discussed Phase II on Wednesday, they focused on managing time demands of student-athletes, financial considerations, keeping the legislation as simple as possible, and contributing to a well-rounded educational experience for Division II student-athletes.

The proposals that will be forwarded to the Management Council and Presidents Council appear to meet those standards, but the group struggled at times as it attempted to create greater Bylaw 17 equity among sports and to accommodate the desire of student-athletes to compete against a backdrop of economic crisis.

Ed Matejkovic, director of athletics at West Chester and president of the Division II Athletics Directors Association, noted that institutions in his conference are facing serious economic problems as federal stimulus money runs out a year from now (the conclusion of that funding is known in some circles as "The Cliff"). While scrimmages and out-of-season competitions may be low-cost, Matejkovic noted that any additional expense could jeopardize the existence of other sports, or eventually maybe even overall programs.

Metro State Athletics Director Joan McDermott echoed the sentiments, saying that while the desires of student-athletes to compete should be honored as much as possible, ADs across the country see a rapidly approaching need for major fiscal change.

Wherever Phase II and related issues end up, they will have been thoroughly vetted with Division II constituents. The discussion at Wednesday's joint meeting included feedback from all Division II sports committees and several coaches associations, along with general e-mail responses from the membership (the lifeinthebalance@ncaa.org address remains open to members who want to share observations). In addition, research analysis on the topic has been shared with the membership.

In other matters at the Championships/Legislation Committee meeting:

• Although the joint committees recommended a September 15 start date for the start date of the championship segment in winter sports, the Championships Committee at its meetings on Monday and Tuesday, recommended an October 10 start date for wrestling, based on a recommendation from the Division II Wrestling Committee noting the unique elements of the sport. Divisions I and III are considering similar legislation.
• As members considered a figure that describes countable and noncountable activities under the 20/8-hour rule, they veered into a discussion about field preparation. A 1991 interpretation that applies to all divisions clearly states that student-athlete involvement in field preparation is a countable activity, but the sentiment in the room was that few institutions are applying the rule in that way. The matter will be reviewed at the next Legislation Committee meeting.