From: ks@stat.tamu.edu (Kurt F. Sauer)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.racing
Subject: Re: NCCA - Let's Fix It
Date: 22 Jan 1993 15:09:14 GMT
Organization: A&M Cycling Team, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
NNTP-Posting-Host: stat.tamu.edu

David Lawson says:
>The basic dilemma is should collegiate cycling attempt to become a NCAA sport
>or should it continue as a club sport under the direction of the NCCA?

And he is right that there are advantages and disadvantages to both courses of
action.  I am an undergraduate student working for the Athletic Academic Dept.
at Texas A&M University; I am completely amazed by the degree of control asser-
ted on the institutions and athletes by the NCAA.  Clearly, the rulebooks must
take up a good 4 shelf-feet of space--and that doesn't count the interpreta-
tions!

I'm not a big fan of making collegiate cycling an NCAA sport because it would
surely never move from a Division II sport to a Division I sport (these Di-
visions are different than school sizing Divisions) and would likely cause
the sport to stagnate.

Instead, I think we need to come up with some alternative structure for
collegiate cycling that accomplishes these goals:

1.  There must be some kind of standard basic eligibility to ensure that
    the special needs of older students (read as: "me") are kept in mind
    while providing some protection against students-turned-pro-while-still-
    in-college.  The NCAA eligibility and academic rules, a copy of which I
    have here, provide a basic framework which is far more comprehensive
    than NCCA's; I suggest that they might be the basis for a beginning.

2.  We need some help from USCF and NCCA in terms of advertising the sport
    to college students.  Some slick leaflets printed for NCCA with a
    space for a stamp of the local club might be enough.

3.  We need access to more schools.  I know that NCCA joined the National
    Intramural and Recreation Sports Association (NIRSA) in the past couple
    of years.  We should exploit that membership.  Indeed, I am helping our
    conference director prepare a mailing to all of the NIRSA member schools
    in our conference geographic boundaries.

    Once a program starts at a school, we need to provide a lifeline to the
    student leadership.  Students are often ill-equipped or poorly advised
    as to how to run a cycling organization.  NCCA should work much harder
    to make the program more "turn-key," especially with respect to finance
    issues, organizational charters, training aids and in organizing races.

4.  Most importantly, in my opinion, we need more exposure to cycling at
    the High School level.  There was an excellent program at the House of
    Delegates meeting in 1992 about getting racing introduced in secondary
    schools.  High School is about the latest phase in education when a
    student is usually willing to accept a new sport seriously.  This takes
    some wresting of control from state boards of education.  But the issue
    is real, and I think that our best source of collegiate riders could
    come from a real effort at the secondary level.

Thoughts, ideas?  I just want to see the sport grow.
--
Kurt F. Sauer
College Station, Texas

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