Division 1 Athletics

Division 1 Athletics

Division one of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is the highest level of competition that colleges have among themselves. In the United States, schools that belong to division one are known internationally for their excellence in athletics. They are well equipped with adequate facilities and other resources to enable students get the best practice. These schools are run in significantly larger budgets as compared to other schools and colleges that belong to other divisions. Every year, these colleges inherit a legacy of athletic excellence that they must strive to maintain. It is the reason why lots of money is spent to hire good coaches as well as in the actual training of students. Students who graduate from these colleges are undoubtedly well rounded because apart from academic excellence, they make good use of their athletic talents. Indeed, most international athletes originate from these colleges, especially because the schools receive lots of international exposure. Students also get opportunity to represent their colleges in international competitions and in the process get experience. This benefits them because they are informed beforehand what they should expect from such competitions. Although division one started off as a football division, the predominance and the growing popularity of athletics has led to a drastic change of priorities. It remains to be seen how it will transform, considering that the United States is fast becoming a hub of international athletics. Currently, this division is regulated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States of America.

National Collegiate Athletic Association is a body that was started very many years ago to foster the student-athletes excellence. Its members are mainly institutions of higher education such as universities and colleges have levels referred which are division based systems. The memberships vary from division I to III and each member can choose the level to join depending on its mission. The benefits accrued also vary, with the highest gain in Division I and the least in Division III. Institutions that are members of Division I enjoy a better program which mainly entails higher ticket sales, greater sponsor deals, increasing student enrolment and more scholarships offers. This has made many colleges and universities in the Division II to consider a move to the Division I. Research shows that most of this Division II does not survey the shortfall that they become on the move rather most concentrate on the prestige attached to the Division.  This has made many institution that have joined Division I to suffer high financial constrains in the first five year of their move. The governing of NCAA is Division based with members of Division I having mainly legislative role in the overall governance. Observations made reveal that most institution after stepping to Division I have high crisis in financial management.  

The NCAA so far faces a lot of turmoil in its managements is because most of the expectation that the overall community has on its operations are not met. To begin with, the athletic scholarships offered do not cover all cost on a student rather it only pays for the tuition fees. Secondly most of the students participating in the college athletics have limited time to focus on their academic studies hence they do not get any meaningful education. The students are also not allowed inter college transfers due to high penalties imposed on them. Moreover, the financial expenditure of NCAA is not cost effective as it mainly offers high pay on the coaches and the administrative officers. So far, there are various recommendations that so far have been put in place so that NCAA has on the issues above. First and foremost NCAA is required to offer full scholarship to the student-athletes. Secondly there should be a semester without athletics to allow students concentration and penalties should be removed to allow student to transfer to other colleges.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association also regulates the number of scholarships that Colleges award to its members in order to facilitate their activities. The sets of limits are based on head count. In this program of scholarship, the College is restricted on the number of scholarships that it can provide to its members. Each school is given a number that they should not exceed in their scholarship programs. However, the provision allows each of the students awarded to get a full scholarship as it does not restrict the extent of the scholarship. The other program is called equivalency in which the total amount of money that a school can use in scholarships is limited. In this regard, the school can give scholarships to as many students as it wishes so long as the amount of money spent does not exceed the given limits. However, this varies from one sport to another, and does not apply to division one of some sports. According to these provisions, individuals who receive financial aid from these institutions are termed as counters and the regulations apply to them as well. In awarding these scholarships, these colleges are required to follow certain criteria in order to achieve social equity. For example, the scholarships should be well distributed between boys and girls proportionately. In addition, the distribution should also ensure that other social parameters are considered in order to eliminate racial or ethnic biases. Essentially, it serves to ensure that sports is used to achieve its purpose, social integration and justice.

Division 1 athletics is further subdivided into smaller groups that are based on individual sports. For example, football, volleyball as well as table tennis have their own division one that carries out annual conferences to talks about sports issues. In all these sports, division 1 are given equal mandate and structure so that they can serve people of different talents. Recently, sports like ice hockey got their own division 1 that regulates all legislative issues related to the sport. Ideally, this division of sports basically have legislative mandate and seem to have eternal superiority over other divisions as they formulate policies that others are supposed to operate within. As for new participants in sports, their subdivision is determined by the number of participants or by the nature of scholarships awarded. This principle arose when new entries were struggled to be included in the subdivisions by merely participating. At the moment, some colleges would merely present two participants in particular sports in the hope that they will finally get a place in NCAA. This supposed struggle necessitated the group to rethink its policies and come up with a more inclusive approach. Currently, several changes have been lined up to make the institution more reputable.

In conclusion, Division 1 of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is the highest level of competition that colleges have among themselves. In the United States, schools that belong to division one are known internationally for their excellence in athletics because they are well equipped with adequate facilities and other resources to enable students get the best practice. The National Collegiate Athletic Association also regulates the number of scholarships that Colleges award to its members in order to facilitate their activities. This is basically intended to ensure that the institution remains committed to equity and social justice.