The Division I Men’s and Women’s Tennis Committee is recommending that the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet approve a change in format for the championships.

The committees developed the recommendation at their July 10-13 meeting in Indianapolis.

At the 2006 event, adverse weather conditions during the team portion of the championships forced both genders to play the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship matches on the same day instead of alternating days. As it turns out, coaches, committee members and event organizers at host Stanford University said they liked that format, so a proposal for permanent change will go before the cabinet in September.

The new format would be as follows:

The change gives student-athletes an opportunity for rest days in a tournament that can be challenging for teams and for those individuals who compete in the team and individual portions. It also allows the flexibility to play as many matches outdoors as possible.

The committees also changed their penalty policy to require that penalties that can not be assessed during a match (for example, for conduct after a match is over) follow the individual first (if the individual is still competing at the championships site) and then the team and will be assessed at the earliest possible opportunity to another member of the team. If the team portion of the competition is completed, the penalty will carry over to the individual portion as well.

If the individual who has been assessed the penalty is not participating in the individual championships, the penalty will be assessed to another representative of that institution at the first opportunity. If two matches involving players from the same team begin at the same time, the penalty will be given to the higher-ranked teammate. The policy will include point, game and default penalties.

The committees also tweaked selection criteria. Matches must have results to be considered toward the minimum competition requirement of 13 matches for singles players and 10 matches for doubles players. All matches must have been played at the current institution for that season. Because of the one-time transfer rule, tennis players could potentially have qualified for the championship from two different institutions.

Amateurism rules

Before the committee meetings, several members of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association also met with NCAA staff to discuss issues regarding college tennis.

The group discussed participants’ athletics experiences and receipt of financial awards, pre- and post-enrollment experiences, the student-athlete reinstatement process, and an overview of the amateurism certification process. The latter will certify domestic and international prospective student-athletes, including transfers, who are enrolling for the first time at an NCAA institution for the fall of 2007.

David Benjamin, executive director of the ITA, told the committees he would share those discussions with his membership.