WBCA opens coaching door for minority student-athletes

The Women's Basketball Coaches Association will host a two-day seminar for minority female basketball student-athletes interested in pursuing coaching as a profession.

The April 3-4 workshop, entitled "So You Want to be a Coach," will be conducted in conjunction with the WBCA's 23rd annual national convention in New Orleans.

This is the second year for the program, which is made possible through funds from the NCAA matching-grant program for the advancement of minority women coaches. Participants will receive literature along with the opportunity to gain insights from the game's top coaches, teachers and consultants.

To be eligible, candidates must have exhausted their final year of basketball eligibility at a four-year institution by April 2, 2004, or they must have graduated within the past year. Also, the candidates must be nominated by their head coach, who must be a WBCA member.

Fifty $250 scholarships are available for participants to use toward travel and lodging expenses related to the workshop.

At the end of the seminar, participants will receive a certificate of completion. They also will be eligible to post their resumes on the WBCA's Career Center Web site. In addition, seminar attendees will have a chance to purchase tickets to the NCAA Women's Final Four and the WBCA's Night of All-Stars doubleheader.

For additional information, go to wbca.org or contact Betty F. Jaynes, workshop coordinator, at 770/279-8027, extension 101.

Wheaton swimmers make film debut in sync

The Wheaton College (Massachusetts) synchronized swimming team made a big Hollywood splash with an appearance in the latest Julia Roberts movie, "Mona Lisa Smile."

The 12-member squad traveled to New York to shoot a swim scene that features the team performing a routine to Doris Day's "By the Light of the Silvery Moon."

Released December 18, the film, set in 1953, chronicles how a Wellesley College art professor, played by Roberts, challenges her students and learns from them.

The film's casting company learned of the team through an Internet search for synchronized swimming and placed a call to the school. Wheaton, one of two programs considered by the casting company, was chosen after both programs submitted individual and team photos.

The squad spent about two weeks preparing for the scene before the actual filming. In the movie, Roberts' sister, Lisa Gillan, plays Miss Ardini, the synchronized swimming coach. Current Wheaton head coach Mary Kay Adams wrote the routine showcased in the film.

Lincoln player sets all-time blocks record

John Bunch, a sophomore center on the Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) basketball team, broke the NCAA all-divisions record for blocked shots in a game when he rejected 18 shots during Lincoln's 68-58 victory over Valley Forge Christian College December 13.

The previous record was set by New Jersey Institute of Technology's Tory Black in a February 5, 1997, contest against Polytechnic. The Division I mark of 14 blocked shots in a game is held by four players, and the Division II record of 15 was established by Mark Hensel of the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown, in 1994.

Bunch recorded a triple-double in the December 13 game, scoring 13 points and grabbing 22 rebounds in addition to the 18 blocks. He had collected 72 blocks through just nine games to start the season.

-- Compiled by Leilana McKindra

Number crunching

Toting the rock

Colgate University running back Jamaal Branch set an NCAA football single-season mark this year with 450 rushing attempts. The previous record of 409 was set by Arnold Mickens of Butler University in 1994. Branch set the record December 13 when he carried 45 times for 130 yards in a 36-24 win over Florida Atlantic University. Winner of the 2003 Walter Payton Award, given to the top Division I-AA offensive player, Branch rushed for 2,326 yards and 29 touchdowns for the 15-1 Raiders.

Following are the leaders in single-season rushing attempts:

Looking back

Nashville Convention

This year's NCAA Convention is returning to Nashville, Tennessee, for the first time since 1997. Here's a look back at some highlights of the last Convention in the "Music City":

The 1997 Convention marked the final time Division I used the one-institution/one-vote decision-making process. The membership voted at this meeting to move to a voting structure based on conference representation. The move was made to create a more efficient and responsive system of governance. Beginning in August 1997, Division I would be governed by a 15-member Board of Directors and day-to-day business would be overseen by a 34-member Division I Management Council. Divisions II and II retained their one-institution, one-vote systems.

The Association voted to protect championships in Olympic sports from discontinuation. The membership agreed to protect any National Collegiate or division championship in an Olympic sport that otherwise might by subject to discontinuation under legislation requiring minimal sponsorship of a sport by NCAA schools.

William Porter "Billy" Payne, a former University of Georgia football player who served as president of the organizing committee that administered the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, received the Theodore Roosevelt Award.

Several proposals were adopted to improve student-athlete welfare. These included: adoption of a Division I proposal allowing student-athletes to work during the school year and receive earnings up to the cost of attendance, and adoption of a Division II proposal permitting student-athletes in sports other than football to voluntarily receive two additional hours of skill-related instruction a week outside the playing season, without increasing the total permissible hours of athletically related activities.

During a straw vote taken during the Division III business session, a proposal to subdivide or subgroup the championships failed, with about 40 percent of the delegates approving the idea