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.
As a reminder, per Bylaw 20.8.4.16 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. While there will be a business session on both Friday and Saturday at this year’s Convention, please note that casting a vote at the Friday business session will NOT satisfy the attendance requirement. Institutions must vote at the Saturday business session to satisfy Bylaw 20.8.4.16. If you have questions regarding the Convention attendance requirement, please contact Eric Hartung.
LGBTQ of the Year Award Celebration
If you are traveling to San Antonio for the 2023 NCAA Convention, please reserve time from 6 to 7 p.m. Central time Friday, Jan. 13, to attend the third 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.
2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award
The Woman of the Year Selection Committee has named nine student-athletes as finalists for the 2022 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:
Karenna Groff, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Macy Klein, St. Catherine University.
Erin Nicholas, Middlebury College.
All Top 30 honorees, including the nine finalists, will be celebrated at the Woman of the Year luncheon Jan. 12 during the NCAA Convention in San Antonio. Each honoree will be recognized, and the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced. Click hereto read more about the nine finalists. Learn more about the Top 30 honorees here.
Division III Webinars
Webinars are from 1:30 to 2 p.m. Eastern time the first Tuesday of the month, unless noted otherwise, on the following dates and topics:
Dec. 6 — Academic and membership affairs review of 2023 Convention legislation (1:30 to 2:30 p.m.)
Feb. 7 — 2023 Convention recap.
March 7 — Eligibility Center — international student-athlete certification.
April 4 — Championships bid cycle.
All past webinar PowerPointsare 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. 8 through Feb. 3 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.
Diversity Grant Applications Open
Applications for the Division III diversity grants are open through Jan. 31. The grants provide funding to members committed to enhancing ethnic minority and gender representation in athletics administration and assistant coaching positions. For more information and to apply, visit this website.
2022 NCAA Financial Reporting
2022 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 (single-source sign-on), which can be accessed from NCAA.org. For information, contact Andrea Worlock (aworlock@ncaa.org) at the national office.
Student-Athlete Leadership Forum
Registration for the Student-Athlete Leadership Forum, via Program Hub, opens on Dec. 5 at 8:00 a.m. and closes Jan. 13 at 5 p.m. Eastern time. The forum, April 13-16 in Baltimore, is a program that serves as a transformational opportunity for student-athletes and administrators to build a leadership toolkit and develop vital self-awareness which will allow them to realize their potential. Division III institutions in Region 1 may submit nominations based on a first-come, first-served basis. Each eligible school within the designated region can send up to two student-athletes and one administrator. For the April 2023 forum, Division III institutions in Region 1 are eligible for nomination. For a list of Region 1 states, go here. For more information, click
here.
Delayed Enrollment:
Delayed enrollment occurs when a PSA graduates from high school but then does not immediately enroll full-time at a college or university at the next available opportunity. Bylaw 14.2.4.4 permits a PSA to delay their full-time collegiate enrollment for up to one year after high school graduation without penalty. The Eligibility Center calls this one-year period a PSA’s grace period.
A delayed enrollment review should occur anytime a PSA graduates from high school and delays full-time collegiate enrollment for more than one year. After the one-year period, the review focuses on the type of participation (if any) the PSA was involved in. Delayed enrollment reviews are sport specific, so the review of the PSA’s participation history should be in the sport the PSA wants to participate in at your institution. If the PSA participated in any triggering activities constituting use of a season after the one-year period (see Bylaw 14.2.4.4.2 for triggering activities), the PSA may be subject to a delayed enrollment penalty before they are eligible to participate at your institution.
The delayed enrollment penalty is a required year in residence and use of a season of participation for each year the PSA participated in triggering activities before enrolling full-time at a college or university. Click here for examples.
SAVE THE DATE:2023 Regional Rules Seminar.
Join us in person May 16-18 in Indianapolis at the 2023 NCAA Regional Rules Seminar. Registration for the seminar will be released in early spring. If you have questions regarding the 2023 NCAA Regional Rules Seminars, please visit ncaa.org or contact NCAARegionalRulesSeminars@ncaa.org.
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? Please reference the Division III Institutions Required To Attend the 2023 NCAA Regional Rules Seminar List. If you have attendance requirement questions, contact Eric Hartung at ehartung@ncaa.org.
The week of Jan. 18-24, College Sports Communicators will be celebrating the seventh annual Membership Appreciation Week. This week was developed to celebrate the efforts of all athletics communication and creative professionals.
Division III and D3SIDA Recognition Award
The NCAA Division III and D3SIDA recognition award is a partnership to recognize the best work by athletics communication directors portraying the Division III identity and student-athlete experience.
Applications are now open for the winter award, and submissions are due by Feb. 15, 2023. For more information on nominating, click here.
Division III Public Service Announcements
To increase brand awareness and promote Division III, six 30-second public service announcements and one combined video of all six announcements were created by the national office for use during championship and regular-season events, where space is available. You can find links to download those for use in your broadcasts here.
Athletics Communications Update
The second edition of the monthly communications update was sent Nov. 15. This newsletter is sent on the third Tuesday of each month. The update includes key information for communications directors in Division III member schools and conferences.
The NCAA office of inclusion has released an inclusive language guide to support member schools and conferences in implementing these guidelines in their efforts to foster diverse, inclusive and equitable environments. Aiming to make all feel welcomed and valued, inclusive language respects how we discuss those with differing abilities, nationalities, genders, races/ethnicities, sexual orientations, socioeconomic statuses and other identities. Read more about the guide on
ncaa.org.
Disability Guide
The NCAA office of inclusion has released its disability guide, a three-part resource for the membership to use in supporting student-athletes with disabilities. Featuring sections on “Defining Disability,” “
Language Can Impact How Your Athletes Perform” and “Access and Accommodations for Student-Athletes With Disabilities
,” the disability guide highlights information on what it means for someone to have a disability and the importance and impact of using inclusive language. It also offers guidance on how to ensure student-athletes with disabilities have access and reasonable accommodations to excel academically, athletically and in all aspects of their collegiate experience.
Diversity Spotlight Initiative
The Diversity Spotlight Initiative recognizes and promotes outstanding diversity-related projects, programming and initiatives occurring on Division III campuses and in conference offices. To submit an initiative for consideration for December/January, email Katie Mucci with a brief statement (no more than 500 words) as to why your school or conference office deserves to be the spotlight recipient. Attach a video or photo if applicable. The nomination deadline is Jan. 21.
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 third annual Trivia Night, hosted alongside Special Olympics Indiana.
The NCAA Baseball Rules Committee issued an interpretation regarding the 20-second action clock limit for batters being in the batter’s box and alert to the pitcher with 10 seconds remaining on the clock. The interpretation can be found here under “Updates.”
Softball
REMINDER: The Softball Rules Committee is allowing teams to experiment with a double first base during the 2023 spring season. Any school interested in experimenting with the double first base must submit the request in writing to Vickie Van Kleeck (ncaasbsre@gmail.com). More information is available here.
Swimming and Diving
The most recent November swimming and diving rules review and update can be found here under “Updates.”
The NCAA Sport Science Institute provides an informational resource for student-athletes, coaches and athletics personnel related to suicide prevention. The fact sheet includes warning signs that may indicate an increased risk of suicide, signs of imminent danger, what student-athletes can do (including calling the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline), as well as what athletics department staff can do. To access this resource, click here.
Catastrophic Sport Injury Reporting
Division III Bylaw 20.8.4.20 requires member schools to report annually on all student-athlete fatalities and catastrophic injuries, regardless of whether such fatality/injury is sport-related. Although fatalities and catastrophic injuries among college athletes are rare, identifying the causes and circumstances of catastrophic events are critical to developing effective prevention and response strategies. To assist in the collection of this data, the NCAA Sport Science Institute has partnered with the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research and the Datalys Center. In addition, an online reporting tool has been developed to facilitate reporting. For more information and for answers to frequently asked questions about fatality and catastrophic injury reporting, visit the NCAA website at
ncaa.org/injuryreporting. To report a catastrophic event through the online reporting tool, visit sportinjuryreport.org/ncaareport.
Several committees conducted meetings in November: Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Nov. 13-14
Financial Aid Committee, Nov. 14-15
Strategic Planning and Finance Committee, Nov. 15
Championships Committee, Nov. 15
Interpretations and Legislation Committee, Nov. 16
Membership Committee, Nov. 17
KEY DATES NOVEMBER 2022 THROUGH FEBRUARY 2023
2022-23
Dates
Meeting/Championships
Location
Dec. 1-3
Men's Soccer Championship
Salem, Virginia
Dec. 2-4
Women's Soccer Championship
Salem, Virginia
Dec. 7
Gameday the DIII Way - West Region
Anaheim, California
Dec. 7
Administrative Committee
Virtual
Dec. 13
Championships Committee
Virtual
Dec. 15
Convention Planning Subcommittee
Virtual
Dec. 15
Membership Committee
Virtual
Dec. 16
Football Championship
Annapolis, Maryland
Dec. 21
Interpretations and Legislation Committee
Virtual
Jan. 11-14
NCAA Convention
San Antonio
Jan. 10-11
Student-Athlete Advisory Committee
San Antonio
Jan. 11
Management Council
San Antonio
Jan. 12
Presidents Council
San Antonio
Feb. 6-7
Championships Committee
Indianapolis
Feb. 9
Nominating Committee
Indianapolis
Feb. 13-14
Financial Aid Committee
Virtual
Feb. 14-15
Interpretations and Legislation Committee
Virtual
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.
National Collegiate Athletic Association, 700 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204 US
