All Hits Are Not Created Equal

A recent announcement by the NCAA, that it would be eliminating the Division II postseason tournament, has resulted in controversy among those who believe that a sport is not better than any other because of what level it's played on. The NCAA is taking away divisions for sports that were originally intended to be competitive in only one region, so those who insist on playing their sport at a higher level than others do not have as easy of an avenue between college and professional leagues.

We're here to share our thoughts about this issue with you. First off, let's look at the different levels of competition for each sport:

The NCAA sanctions more than 10 thousand intercollegiate athletic competitions while also governing student athletes.

Now, in total, that's roughly 3500 sports, but many of those events have multiple divisions. So basically―let's assume for this discussion that all divisions are equal―the NCAA is going to toss out 10 or 11 thousand events out of the 3500 total. That's an insane amount of events! To put it in perspective, the NCAA didn't cut the Division I tournament field from 64 teams back down to 36 for 2012-13. They cut over 5000 events out of the 3500 they regulate, and there were statistics showing that Division II championships are actually being created...they're just not being participated in by many clubs. That's how much better Division I is over Division II.

So let's say that there are currently 3000 sports in Division II, but all of them are going to be eliminated anyway. Why should we care if we can't compete anyway? Yet, as a club sport athlete, we do care! Those sports are the reason why we choose to play at our university and not at one of the higher levels. Those sports do matter to us personally, because they keep us active and involved with the community. I loved playing my club volleyball team in high school. It's a great way to stay healthy, keep in shape, and have fun.

Now that we've established how important it is for us to have a chance at competing in the DI tournament, we should ask ourselves why the NCAA is doing this. They're not doing it because colleges need money―they're not making money off of their events―and they're not doing it because they think that Division II has too many athletes participating. There are over 5 million NCAA athletes who compete each year! If they want to get rid of Division II, then they need to say so and get rid of more regulated sports.

So why do they care? They could change the name of Division I to "DII," but it would still cost them millions of dollars in funding. They could just go ahead and cut those sports out, but then people wouldn't be as invested. No one wants to get their hopes up about participating in something that is quickly going to be gone. So the NCAA would rather sacrifice athletes like us than raise money by eliminating Division II events.

We are not asking for much here.

Conclusion:

Let's all demand that the NCAA allow every school, regardless of their financial status, to be able to compete for a Division II title. Let's make some noise and fight for our freedom! We're not asking for anything unreasonable at this point.