REPORT OF THE

NCAA OLYMPIC SPORTS LIAISON COMMITTEE (OSLC)

1. ACTION ITEM.

Division I.

Ÿ Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet Representation on the Olympic Sports Liaison and Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport Committees.

(1) Recommendation. That the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet request the Division I Management Council to sponsor noncontroversial legislation to provide for representation from the NCAA Division I Championships/ Competition Cabinet on the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee (OSLC), and the NCAA Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports Committee (CSMAS). Pursuant to this recommendation, a cabinet member would fill a Division I position on OSLC and a cabinet member would fill an at-large position on CSMAS.

(2) Rationale. The OSLC and the CSMAS committees report to the cabinet, but neither have a legislative requirement for representation from the cabinet on their respective committees. Both Association-wide committees address complex student-athlete welfare issues that impact all sports across the three divisions. Designating representatives from the cabinet to sit on each of these committees will serve the interests of the cabinet when issues from each of these committees are presented; in as much as an individual who was part of the discussions will be present in the cabinet room. The cabinet members assigned to these committees will be in a position to provide the cabinet with the intent and context of the discussions and be able to include important health and safety or Olympic sports issues in the cabinet discussions. In addition, the issues and recommendations that are generated by both these committees have implications across the three divisions and, thus, require input and attention from all three divisional governing bodies. With no direct representation from the cabinet, issues may not receive a complete review by each division since the context and rationale discussed at the committee level are not articulated at the cabinet level. Both committees believe that due to the sensitive nature of the issues discussed, the fact that the issues are Association wide and the importance of the issues to the Association as a whole, representation on each committee from the cabinet is essential. In addition, the committees note that having representation from the cabinet present during committee discussions will assist not only in educating the cabinet on issues but also allow a representative from the cabinet to share insights from the cabinet level during important committee discussions. The direct link between these committees and the cabinet will provide needed continuity within the Division I structure.

(3) Budget impact. None. The positions on both committees will be filled through attrition.

2. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS.

Association-wide.

a. International Student-Athlete Issues. The NCAA's general counsel discussed some of the federal laws as they are applied to international student-athletes. The committee requested that the staff provide a comparison of the proportion of international student-athletes on campus to the number in the general student body. Additionally, the committee requested a summary of the information collected by other groups within the NCAA governance structure whom have reviewed issues related to the participation of international student-athletes. The committee will continue discussion in this area.

b. Strategic Plan. The committee reviewed the OSLC strategic plan and made appropriate changes. The committee agreed to continue discussion regarding the implementation of the plan.

c. Update regarding the U.S. Olympic Committee’s (USOC) Board Meeting and Structure. The committee reviewed the changes to the structure of the USOC Board of Directors and the timeline for implementing the structural changes.

d. Doping/NCAA Drug Testing. The committee received an update on two of the CSMAS recommendations regarding positive drug testing penalties. The committee discussed the medical exceptions process for medications used to treat attention deficit disorders and the practical implications of the CSMAS recommendation to have the ability to reduce the one-year sanction by 50 percent on appeal. The committee also reviewed the recent changes to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) banned substance list.

e. Maintaining Olympic Sport Sponsorship at the NCAA Level. The committee continued its discussion on the decline in sponsorship of Olympic sports at the intercollegiate level. The OSLC has been discussing the issue of maintaining Olympic sport sponsorship at NCAA institutions for the past several years. In this effort, the committee has been working with the USOC and the National Governing Bodies (NGBs) to develop strategies and solutions to the increasing problem. The committee will work with the Joint NCAA/USOC Task Force on maintaining Olympic sport sponsorship. The committee reviewed data on scholarships given to female student-athletes in Division I and requested similar data for male student-athletes in Division I. The committee met with Carol Iwaoka, chair of the Division I financial aid subcommittee, to discuss the Division I equivalency limit recommendations and the possible impact on endangered Olympic sports.

f. Athletics Activity Waiver. The committee reviewed the athletics activity waiver process and a letter/document submitted by USA Wrestling regarding potential abuses of this process in the sport of wrestling. The committee directed staff to track the number of waivers requested related to the preparation for and participation in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

g. Institutions Training at the USOC Training Facilities in Colorado Springs. An institution raised the issue of the ability of institutions to train or practice at the USOC training facilities in Colorado Springs. Under NCAA legislation, institutions may only provide expenses for practices not associated with an away-from-home contest, if the practice is within the institution’s state or out-of-state within a 100 mile radius of the institution. The committee reviewed this issue and expressed no interest in providing any exceptions to the current legislation and directed staff to provide a memorandum to the swimming community reminding them of the current legislation.

h. Long Course Swimming Event in the NCAA Championship. For the 2004 Olympic Trials, swimmers were required to qualify in a competition that is held in a long course format (50 meter pool). Some institutions are unlikely to swim events in long course format and the student-athletes may not have had the opportunity to obtain a time to qualify for the Olympic trials. In the past, one could qualify using a time obtained in a short course pool (25 yards or 25 meters); however, USA Swimming changed the rule after the 2000 trials so that one could not qualify using a short course qualification time. This issue was brought to the committee’s attention by USA Swimming, and the committee is referring this issue to the NCAA swimming committee for all three divisions.

i. Approval of a letter to USA Wrestling. The committee approved sending a letter regarding the designation of an emerging sport for women to USA Wrestling from Kyle Kallander, chair of the OSLC.

j. Meeting with NGBs. The committee met with representatives from U.S. Soccer Federation, USA Track & Field, College Gymnastics Association, and U.S. Synchronized Swimming. USA Softball submitted a memorandum. The committee listened to issues presented and provided the NGBs with relevant information regarding the NCAA.

(1) U.S. Soccer Federation. Forest Erber and Hector Tobar from the U.S. Soccer Federation described the youth national team structure, recent facility construction, and described general areas of expenditures for the federation. They also outlined the federation’s concern regarding the contest limitations in intercollegiate soccer.

(2) USA Track & Field. Craig Masback from USA Track & Field described some of the participation, attendance, television and budget statistics that relate to track and field. In addition, he discussed the importance of collegiate athletes and coaches for the national team. Finally, he described five requests that USA Track & Field wants the NCAA to consider, which are:

(a) To re-evaluate the issue of individuals, who are not enrolled as full-time student-athletes, participating in an institution’s practice. Legislation precludes such activities, unless the individual is an alumni of the institution;

(b) To eliminate the requirement of Division I institutions choosing which championship (indoor or outdoor) the institution would receive reimbursement;

(c) For the NCAA to consider reimbursing institutions for expenses incurred as a result of participation in regional NCAA competition in addition to expenses incurred as a result of participation in national NCAA competition;

(d) Alignment with USADA’s and the World Anti-Doping Agency's lack of exceptions for the use of medications used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder;

(e) To consider a suggestion for an individual to serve on the joint NCAA/USOC joint task force.

Mr. Masback will forward to the committee additional information from coaches regarding the possible recruiting issues related to item a. Items (b) and (c) will be referred to the championship liaisons for the sports of indoor and outdoor track and field as well as the cross country liaisons. Item d was discussed with the liaison from that Safeguard committee and additional education initiatives regarding the difference in policy will be discussed at the Safeguard Committees next meeting.

(3) U.S. Synchronized Swimming. Representatives from U.S. Synchronized Swimming provided a document describing the sport in general and their college program. They also described the average age of the participants, the impact of international student-athletes, the scholarship situation, and potentially changing the season of competition to help increase the possibility that institutions will add the sport

(4) College Gymnastics Association (CGA). Dick Arronson from the CGA presented a proposal to assist in maintaining endangered Olympic sports at the intercollegiate level. This proposal involves allowing NCAA varsity Olympic sport programs that have been eliminated and established institution club sport(s) to participate as a competitive club sport representing an institution in intercollegiate competition. The committee expressed concerns with the proposal and will forward their concerns to Mr. Aronson. The committee took no formal action and recommended that Mr. Arronson send the proposal directly to the joint NCAA/USOC task force.

k. Update on 20-Hour Rule Discussions/Working Group. The committee reviewed the content of the educational material that the working group developed.

Division I Only.

l. Futures Tennis Tournaments. The committee reviewed information regarding NCAA institutions hosting futures tennis tournaments on their campuses. Such tournaments appear to be impermissible tryout activities. The Division I Legislative Review and Interpretation Subcommittee recently reviewed this issue and will issue an official interpretation. The committee directed the staff to forward the interpretation to the U.S. Tennis Association.

Committee Chair: Kyle Kallander, Big South Conference

Staff Liaisons: Corey Bray, research, Jennifer Strawley, student-athlete reinstatement, Wendy Walters, membership services, and Josh White, membership services