row2k news Open Letter to Regatta LOC's from the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association
July 25, 2006
Recent NCAA legislation has been adopted that affects the ability of colleges with varsity intercollegiate status women's rowing teams to compete against high school students. The Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) is trying to be proactive in letting the rowing community, and regatta organizers in particular, know about this change. The greatest impact is on fall head racing. We realize that this rules change does not just affect the collegiate teams, but the entire rowing community as well. We are pleased that row2k.com has agreed to help us spread the word. Bill Zack, the head of the CRCA Legislative Review Committee, in conjunction with the CRCA Board of Directors and CRCA President Andy Teitelbaum, have created the following letter that the CRCA will be sending to regatta organizers. We want to share this letter with everybody.
Here is some additional background. As part of the NCAA recruiting rules, there are numerous restrictions against conducting tryouts of prospects, which is basically anybody in grade 9 or above. The recent change to the rules prevents a varsity intercollegiate status rowing team from competing against any crew that even has one high school student in it. While it has been common in the past for college crews and high school crews to be in the same event at head races, this is simply no longer allowed. This legislation was adopted in large part to ensure that this rule applies equally to all NCAA sports, so there is essentially no option to create an exception for rowing. It is not the desire of the CRCA to prevent high school students from participating in head races or to force anything upon the rowing world. It is our desire to see some structural changes to regattas to ensure that college programs can continue to support all regattas through their participation without violating any NCAA rules. We encourage everyone to read the letter and provide the CRCA with any feedback you like or ask any questions that you might have.
To Regatta Organizing Committees:
The Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) would like to inform you about a recent change to NCAA rules that affects our teams' ability to participate in certain regattas. We would like to work cooperatively with local organizing committees to ensure that we can continue to support and participate in all regattas without incurring an NCAA violation.
There are currently 84 NCAA Division I, 14 NCAA Division II, and 42 NCAA Division III institutions that sponsor women's rowing as a varsity intercollegiate sport. Under recently adopted NCAA legislation, these teams are not allowed to compete against any crew that has a high school student in it. So these teams cannot compete against a scholastic crew from a high school or prep school that sponsors rowing as a sport. They also cannot compete against a high school club / composite program. They even cannot compete against a rowing club or masters crew that has a high school coxswain in it. The theory behind this is that competition against a prospect violates the rules against tryouts that are part of NCAA recruiting regulations. This prohibition on competing against high school students now applies to all NCAA sports, not just rowing.
The most likely scenario where an NCAA violation could occur is in a fall head race where traditionally collegiate, junior, and club crews are commingled. There has been a misconception that labeling an event as 'open' gets around the issue of an NCAA violation. Unfortunately, it does not. There has also been an assumption that collegiate freshmen / novice crews can race against teams that contain high school students. It is true that a subvarsity team can compete against high school students. But there is more to this than simply slapping the label novice on the college crew. Most institutions have chosen not to go through the somewhat elaborate administrative process of declaring a separate subvarsity team and tracking the membership and competition records in order to ensure NCAA compliance.
What solutions are available? One is to have certain events at your regatta that are open only to collegiate competitors. Another solution is to have events that are open to everybody but high school students. This would allow college, club, and masters crews to compete together as long as no high school students were in any of the crews. A third solution would be to have equivalent yet separate events. For example, there could be the collegiate lightweight four event followed immediately by the open lightweight four event. As long as they are separate events and run consecutively, not concurrently, the NCAA rules should not be an issue.
On behalf of our membership, I want to thank you for taking the time to consider this issue. If you would like additional information, you may contact the head of our Legislative Review Committee, Bill Zack. His e-mail address is [email protected].
Sincerely,
Bill Zack, Legislative Rules & Review Chairperson Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association
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