REPORT OF THE
NCAA
DIVISION III MANAGEMENT COUNCIL
PLAYING
AND PRACTICE SEASONS SUBCOMMITTEE
1. ACTION
ITEM.
·
Football
Preseason Administrative Activities.
(1)
Recommendation. Sponsor
noncontroversial legislation to permit administrative activities of any type to
occur prior to the start of the five-day acclimatization period in football.
(2)
Rationale. In
light of logistical concerns about issuing equipment on the first practice day
of the acclimatization period, the subcommittee determined that there is no
safety-based reason to require that administrative activities not be conducted
prior to the start of the five-day acclimatization period. Further, institutions
are already permitted to bring student-athletes to campus the day before
practice starts for such activities as medical examinations, so this recommendation
would not represent an additional expense to the institution.
(3) Budget
Impact. None.
2. INFORMATIONAL
ITEMS.
a. Feedback
on fall Acclimatization Model. The subcommittee
considered fall sport acclimatization feedback from the NCAA Division III Field
Hockey Committee, Football Committee and Women's Soccer committee, in addition
to the injury data related to those sports. The feedback from the fall sports
committees was varied, and none of the sports committees endorsed the model in
its entirety. Prior to recommending
a preseason acclimatization model for all fall sports, the subcommittee would
like further information from the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and
Medical Aspects of Sport (CSMAS). For
its July meeting, the subcommittee would like to receive information from CSMAS
on the following issues:
o
How
does Division III data support the recommended model?
o
What
Division III data does CSMAS have available for its decision making?
o
Were
there significant differences in the Divisions I, II and III data used to
devise the original recommendation? Were those data elements critical in the
design of the model?
o
Are
there any single components of the model that could be implemented without the
rest of the package that would yield a significant impact on the preseason
practice period?
o
What
are the health and safety concerns regarding the addition of a walk through
session to the single three-hour practice session permitted in the five-day
acclimatization period in football?
b. Skiing 19-Week Waiver
Request. The
subcommittee considered a waiver request from the NCAA Men's and Women's Skiing
Committee, calling for relief from the 19-week playing season restriction. The Skiing Committee noted a competitive
disadvantage caused by the difference in practice opportunities for Division I,
Division II and Division III teams. The subcommittee noted that the membership
addressed a similar concern at the 2001 NCAA Convention when it voted to require
National Collegiate Championship Sports to follow Division III playing and practice
season regulations. Further, the
subcommittee noted that it is not within its proper authority to recommend
relief of a legislative concept adopted by the full membership at the most
recent Convention, especially when the concerns raised in the waiver request
were considered as part of the Convention discussion.
c. Baseball and Softball
Innings. At
its January meeting, the subcommittee continued its discussion of the
appropriate scrimmage length for baseball and softball. The subcommittee would like to explore
the option of placing a formula on the length of a scrimmage (e.g., 1.5 times
the length of a regulation contest) as opposed to a specific number of contests
or minutes. The subcommittee would like to have feedback from each sport
committee regarding typical scrimmage lengths for each sport. This request for information was sent to
the chair of each sport committee to provide sport-specific feedback on scrimmage
length to the subcommittee. This
information will be presented to the subcommittee at its July meeting.
d. NCAA Championships Play-in
Competition. The subcommittee received information that the annual
exemptions for NCAA championship play-in competition is being removed from Bylaw
17 because Division III does not use play-in competition in its championships
format, and some institutions were confused that the exemption allowed an
institution to exempt last-chance meets.