This update is a tool to enhance communication between the NCAA national office and the Division III membership, with distribution to athletics directors, senior woman administrators, faculty athletics representatives, presidents, national SAAC, conference commissioners and the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators listserv. We encourage athletics directors to share this communication with their athletics department members. Please contact Katie Mucci to include an item or share comments, and remember to check out the Division III governance homepage for the latest news and information.
If you are traveling to Phoenix for the 2024 NCAA Convention, please reserve time from 6:45 to 8 p.m. Mountain time Thursday, Jan. 11, to attend the fourth annual LGBTQ of the Year Award ceremony. You will need a Convention credential to attend. During the ceremony, we will recognize all the nominees and announce this year’s recipients.
2024 NCAA Convention Resource Page
To access this year’s Convention resources, visit the 2024 Convention resource webpage. Staff will post key information (for example: the Official Notice, legislative proposal Q&A guide and education session PowerPoints) on this page as they become available.
IMPORTANT:Division III Week of Service Reporting
As the Division III week of service wraps up on Sunday, Dec. 3, make sure to report all activities using this form so the division can get an accurate count of the participation and community impact.
Division III Webinars
Webinars will be from 1:30 to 2 p.m. Eastern time the first Tuesday of the month on the following dates and topics:
Dec. 5 — AMA Review of 2024 Convention Legislation.
Feb. 6 — 2024 NCAA Convention recap.
All past webinar PowerPoints are on the Division III webinar webpage.
Division III Health and Safety Survey
The Sport Science Institute health and safety survey will again be sent to Division III athletics health care administrators. The survey is designed to collect information on the administrative and organizational aspects of Division III sports medicine programs. Data from the survey will allow schools to assess how they compare on issues related to athletics health care delivery and administration.
The survey will be available to the Division III membership Dec. 7 through Feb. 2 and is to be completed by the school’s athletics trainers/athletics health care administrators. The NCAA will make the aggregate and institutional survey data available through the Division III Institutional Performance Program.
2023 NCAA Woman of the Year Award
The Woman of the Year Selection Committee has named nine student-athletes as finalists for the 2023 Woman of the Year Award. The finalists — three from each division — are being honored for their outstanding achievements in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.
The Division III finalists are:
Kristen Palmer, MIT.
Sophia Glory Slovenski, Southern Maine.
Anika Washburn, Case Western Reserve.
All Top 30 honorees, including the nine finalists, will be celebrated Jan. 11, 4:45 to 5:45 p.m. Mountain time, during the NCAA Convention in Phoenix. Each honoree will be recognized, and the 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced. Click here to read more about the nine finalists.
2023 NCAA Financial Reporting
2023 NCAA financial reporting is due Jan. 15. There are two methods to meet the constitutional requirement of reporting financial data annually.
Submit financial data to the NCAA via the Financial Reporting System.
Submit the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act Certificate of Completion to the NCAA via the Financial Reporting System.
The required financial data or EADA Certificate of Completion is submitted via the Membership Financial Reporting System located within My Apps (SingleSource Sign-on), which can be accessed from NCAA.org. For information, contact Andrea Worlock at the national office.
Eligibility between terms. To be eligible for any practice or competition between terms, student-athletes must either have been registered full time at the end of the previous fall term (if they are continuing enrollment) or they must be accepted for full-time enrollment for the upcoming winter/spring term (if they are continuing or beginning enrollment) (see Bylaw 14.1.7.1.7.6).
If a student-athlete’s eligibility is changing (for example, the student-athlete was ineligible in the fall but will be eligible in the spring), Bylaw 14.1.9 provides a timeline in which the certification for a student-athlete must occur: no earlier than the day after the day of the last scheduled final and no later than the first day of classes for the following academic term. While your institutional policy should dictate when on that timeline the certification happens, it does not have to happen on the same day for all student-athletes. Finally, a conference may adopt more stringent requirements for its member institutions.
2024 NCAA Convention Attendance Requirement
As a reminder, per Bylaw 20.8.4.15: Convention and Regional Rules Seminar Attendance, each active member institution must be represented by an institutional staff member who is certified as a voting delegate and who votes for the institution at the NCAA Convention Division III business session. Institutions must vote at the Saturday business session to satisfy Bylaw 20.8.4.15. If you have questions regarding the Convention attendance requirement, please contact Eric Hartung at ehartung@ncaa.org.
CSMAS Legislative Recommendation to Remove Cannabinoids
During its September 2023 meeting, the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports made a legislative recommendation that each division introduce and adopt legislation to remove cannabinoids from the list of NCAA Banned Substances. An associated Question and Answer document is now available.
While not advocating for or condoning cannabinoid use, the recommendation acknowledges that current policy has been ineffective at preventing problematic use and that recentering student-athlete health will require local, harm-reduction approaches. Additionally, the recommendation affirms the role of the NCAA Drug-Testing Program to address only performance-enhancing substances.
The Division III Management Council will consider the recommendation during its January meeting.
NEW DEADLINE: Sports Sponsorship Participation and Demographics Form
The Sports Sponsorship Participation and Demographics data collection will open April 1, 2024, and close June 21, 2024.
IMPORTANT: Regional Rules Seminar
At least once every three years, an active member school must be represented by at least one institutional staff member at the NCAA Regional Rules Seminar. Unsure if you need to attend the upcoming seminar? Please reference the Division III Institutions Required To Attend the 2024 NCAA Regional Rules Seminar List. The 2024 in-person seminar will be June 12-14 in Las Vegas. If you have attendance requirement questions, contact EricHartung at ehartung@ncaa.org.
ATHLETICS COMMUNICATION UPDATES
NCAA and D3SIDA Recognition Award
The fall NCAA and D3SIDA Recognition Award recipient is Aaron Morse of Bates College with a feature “Meet Johnny ‘Walk-On’: The Bobcat Football Player Who Never Played in High School.” The article shares the journey of Johnny Walker to the Bates football team.
The NCAA Division III and D3SIDA recognition award seeks to honor the best work — including news releases, feature articles, videos, blogs and other materials — produced by Division III campus and conference athletics communication offices. Each top honoree will receive a $1,500 credit to attend Division III Day at the annual College Sports Communicators convention. The next submission deadline is Feb. 15. For more information, click here.
Media Coordination/Statistics Staff Contacts
To find information about whom to contact at the NCAA for media coordination and statistics, the 2023-24 assignments can be found here.
SAVE THE DATE: Division III Week
Mark your calendars! The annual Division III Week will be held April 1-7, 2024. Division III Week is a positive opportunity for all individuals associated with the division to observe and celebrate the impact of athletics and of student-athletes on the campus and surrounding community. During the week, every Division III school and conference office is encouraged to conduct a type of outreach activity that falls into one of three categories: academic accomplishment; athletic experience; or leadership/community service/campus involvement. For more information, click here.
Identity is complicated. We all identify using different categories like ability, nationality, sexual or gender identity, race or ethnicity, etc. How you talk about identity matters and can have a direct impact on the way student-athletes perform. This is especially true for student-athletes who identify as disabled. Disability represents many conditions that are both visible and hidden. Click here to learn more.
Diversity Spotlight Initiative
Amherst College is the recipient of this month’s Diversity Spotlight award. The Amherst athletics department created the DEI Representative Committee approximately three years ago, and it remains an essential part of its sports programs’ overall well-being and success. Every year, a select group of dedicated student-athletes is chosen to serve as intermediaries between DEI educators and their respective teams, fostering conversations and education on diversity-related topics. Through this role, these individuals equip themselves with a solid understanding of DEI matters, enabling them to confidently bring this knowledge and current DEI issues to the forefront within their teams.
The Diversity Spotlight Initiative recognizes and promotes outstanding diversity development projects, programming and initiatives occurring on Division III campuses and in conference offices. Each month an institution or conference is identified by the selection committee to be featured on the DIII webpage and in the DIII Monthly Update. In addition, the featured institution or conference office receives $500 toward its next diversity initiative. Click here for more information.
The NCAA Division III Special Olympics Spotlight Poll is a storytelling initiative on ncaa.org/D3SpecialOlympics. It features new stories each month that highlight a Division III and Special Olympics joint activity or event. That school or conference receives $500 to use for its next Special Olympics event. Written and digital submissions both are accepted. Featured stories are selected based on inclusion of the student-athlete perspective and Division III messaging. To submit a story for consideration, email d3specialolympics@ncaa.org.
The winner for the month of November was the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference for the league’s ninth annual Unified Sports Bowling Championship, hosted alongside Special Olympics Indiana.
Recordings from the SSI Spotlight on Mental Health Best Practices are now available through the NCAA Learning Portal. The five-session webinar series served to inform and support the membership in advance of an expected update to the Interassociation Consensus Document: Best Practices for Understanding and Supporting Student-Athlete Mental Wellness in January 2024. The series highlighted practical, campus-based implementation strategies and explored the updated guidance anticipated in the second edition of the best practices. The Mental Health Best Practices are designed to provide athletics and sports medicine departments — regardless of size and resources — with recommendations for supporting and promoting student-athlete mental health. NCAA legislation requires schools to provide mental health services and resources consistent with these best practices.
SSI Spotlight on Concussion Safety Protocol Checklist Updates Webinar Series
Members are invited to attend the free educational webinar series, SSI Spotlight on Concussion Safety Protocol Checklist Updates, starting December 6. The series will feature two 45-minute webinars highlighting changes to the Concussion Safety Protocol Checklist and the evidence- and consensus-based guidance that informed the update. This series is hosted by Dr. Brian Hainline, NCAA Chief Medical Officer, and will highlight practical, campus and expert-based implementation strategies and explore guidance provided in the updated Checklist. Please note, you must register separately for each session.
CSMAS continued to discuss ongoing athletic training workforce issues. It reviewed the report (see memo sent Aug. 24, 2023) of a recent meeting between leadership of athletic training organizations and representatives from the membership and approved a complementary statement to assist in standardizing the membership’s understanding of AT workforce dynamics and to emphasize possible solutions. CSMAS noted the work of the NCAA Division III Athletic Training Working Group, which is also considering these issues and working to develop recommendations specific to Division III schools.
NCAA Mental Health Best Practices
CSMAS reviewed and provided feedback on proposed updates to the NCAA Mental Health Best Practices, as recommended by the NCAA Mental Health Advisory Group. The Mental Health Advisory Group was commissioned by CSMAS after the Diverse Student-Athlete Mental Health and Well-Being Summit and charged with recommending updates to the Mental Health Best Practices. Schools are legislatively required to make mental health services and resources available consistent with the Mental Health Best Practices. At its December meeting, CSMAS will consider a recommendation to the NCAA Board of Governors to approve the updated document during its January 2024 meeting. If approved, the Second Edition of the Mental Health Best Practices would be effective Aug. 1, 2024, for the 2024-25 academic year.
In an effort to reduce an influx of emails, all playing rules surveys issued during the 2023-24 academic year for athletics directors, commissioners and senior woman administrators will be available on a single surveys page. NCAA research made the switch due to membership feedback and estimates that this will reduce emails by 40-60 per year.
Invitations to complete each playing rules survey will continue to be sent directly to head coaches and officials in the sport. However, athletics administrators will be made aware of these surveys via the NCAA Weekly as they become available throughout the year. Consider bookmarking the survey page and checking it periodically for open surveys in the sports you sponsor. Upcoming surveys include football (Jan. 15-Feb. 15), wrestling (March 4-29) and bowling (March 4-April 5).
This process will be evaluated after the first few surveys and may be modified if response rates are determined to be too low. If you have any questions regarding this change in survey process, please contact research@ncaa.org.
Men’s Lacrosse
The Men’s Lacrosse Rules Committee was asked to clarify the rules around goal nets, as historically it has been largely silent. Provided that the mesh of the net does not exceed 1½, inches it may be of varying shapes (square, hexagon, octagon, etc.). In addition, advertising on goal nets has made it a challenge for officials to see whether the ball has crossed the goal line or entered the goal. Only institutional, commercial and memorial logos are permitted to be affixed to the back center of the goal nets no higher than 3 feet.
Soccer
The Men’s and Women’s Soccer Rules Committee will meet Jan. 29-31 for its annual meeting. It is a rules-change year.
Softball
The 2024 and 2025 approved playing rules changes and interpretations/clarifications are available here under Updates.
REMINDER: Beginning Jan. 1, 2024, all softballs used in competition must meet the new ball specifications, which includes a maximum compression of 275-375 pounds. This rules change was approved in Summer 2021 to standardize ball specifications with NFHS and USA Softball.
Wrestling
The 2023-24/2024-25 Wrestling Case Book has been updated and should be used in conjunction with the 2023-23/2024-25 Wrestling Rules Book. It is available here under Rules of the Game.
Reminder: Review your activated accounts for this academic year and check whether any international student-athletes are planning to join or walk on to winter or spring sports teams.
The Eligibility Center released its November DIII Newsletter. Click here to view important information from the Eligibility Center.
This email was sent to NCAA Division III presidents and chancellors, athletics direct reports, directors of athletics, faculty athletics representatives, senior woman administrators, sports information directors, directors of compliance, commissioners, assistant/associate commissioners, national Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, provisional, reclassifying and exploratory members based on contact information in the NCAA Directory.
