NCAA Legislation Affects Volleyball

On Saturday, at the annual NCAA Convention, Division II members passed a "Life in the Balance" measure that was put forth by the President's Council.  The package affects all sports at the Division II level, and most importantly impacts volleyball in the following areas:

• Provide a one-week-later date for the first permissible contest in all fall sports (to the Thursday preceding September 6) and a later reporting date for fall-sports student-athletes (17 days before the first permissible contest in soccer, volleyball, cross country and field hockey, and 21 days before the first permissible contest in football). The proposal also applies to golf and tennis for schools in conferences that conduct their lone league championship or most of its conference matches in the fall.
• Reduce the number of contests in soccer from 20 to 18 and the number of matches in volleyball from 28 to 26, effective in August 2010.  The reduction in field hockey contests from 20 to 18 will be effective in August 2011.

The association's goal is to give student athletes the ability to have a greater balance between athletics, academics, and their personal lives.  Division II has really been a leader in looking at the welfare of the student-athletes and the time demands put upon them by their respective sports.  As college athletics continues to grow into big business, hopefully the powers that be in Division I will look at the leadership that Division II has provided in these areas and will work to return college athletics to the student-athletes.