NC2A Tidbit

Better known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the NCAA is why we tune into the BCS Championship, the Final Four, the Frozen Four, and other college tournaments, games, and championships. It is riddled with highly skilled student-athletes from all over the country and from various parts of the world.

The NCAA: governs, intercedes, interjects, punishes, promotes, celebrates, assists, penalizes, supports, and archives.

By now, you are probably familiar with recent scandals that have occurred at various universities in which the NCAA had to impose its authority. Schools that have most recently been affected are the following: Miami (FL), North Carolina, Ohio State, Penn State, Southern California and Syracuse. You can perceive the NCAA to athletic programs as Washington is to our physical activity policies (as a Washingtonian, I still do not understand how folks mistake the politics of Washington with the meaning of living or being from Washington, DC.) Sure there are governing organizations like the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) that list exercise guidelines. But, the governing begins at the top. The NCAA is a governing body for university athletic programs.

The toughness of the NCAA has been challenged with all of the recent scandals: How will it punish a program? How long will they be punished? Who is in? Who is out? The association sets standards that must be met. Now, whether all athletes meet these standards is a different story. In fact, some programs are known for their low academic and athletic standards and some for their high ones.

Schools are plentiful in the NCAA. From small schools such as Wagner College to large ones like the University of Texas, the NCAA is multi-faceted. Dealing with popular sports such as football that generate a lot of revenue to smaller and lower revenue sports like rowing or sailing, the playing field is not always even. In fact, some universities have been forced to shut down certain athletic programs for various reasons.

We can draw parallels between the duties of the NCAA and how we perceive ourselves. The NCAA mainly serves to protect student-athletes. We, too, have protection responsibilities and capabilities.
See www.ncaa.org

Purpose and Development,
Derek

Derek Arledge, CSCS                            TEEM Performance Training