College Team 5-Country Euro Tour
hal
participation as professional players or even partnering with another
professional player on the beach circuit. One could argue that Beach VB is a
different sport from indoor VB. I have not heard a clear justification or
objective for this prohibition but will not argue against it.
However, when UCLA recently announced the return of the men's VB team from a
pre-season, 17-day, 5-country, 11 match European tour against professional
teams, I began to think that this had to give them an unfair advantage against
many money-strapped US college teams in the upcoming season.
Now, I don't think Al Skates violated "the letter" of any NCAA rules, but maybe
the intent. Providing an opportunity to play against professional teams at
public sites advertised and open to the paying public is a commercial endeavor
by every definition even if the US players did not get cash. Al Skates had
stated earlier that this tour was providing him with the ability to test his
new 2002 team, find strengths and weaknesses in his players, find out which
players will do well under pressure and find the winning player combination.
Every NCAA coach would love to have gained this experience by the beginning of
the season. 11 matches are about 1/2 of a regular college season. This means
that it will take until mid-season for most NCAA teams to reach the same level
of experiene and maturity that UCLA has aleady reached. It gives me reason to
ponder about several points that may perhaps need review by the NCAA powers:
The legality of play against professional teams and in a commercial setting.
The legality of playing a large number ("large number" needs defininiton) of
matches during pre-season.
The legality of playing extensively at extended distances (distance = cost)
considering that "equal opportunity" does not always mean "equal ability",
translation: many schools can't affort long and extended trips (Hawaii may
need some special consideration here).
I believe some "equalizing" rules are needed to assure a "level playing field"
for all NCAA teams for the good of volleyball in the US. I don't begrudge Al
Scates his unparalled success as UCLA's volleyball coach, but others do need to
have an equal chance as well.
Lurker@home
"hal" <ifly...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20011028225816...@mb-fq.aol.com...
Let's just take these declarations at random......
I like the idea of "equalizing"......For starters, let's apply Title 9 with
the goal of actual equality, and equalize the money for Men's and Women's
volleyball programs.
You may say you don't "begrudge" Mr. Scates his success, but the text of
your post makes it pretty apparent that you do.
If it is illegal for a college team to scrimmage against a pro team, then a
lot of college baseball programs, among others, are going to be hung out to
dry, and a lot of college basketball players will be inelegible because they
played in the Olympics against one of America's "Dream Teams".
"Commercial setting" has nothing whatsoever to do with professional status
of an individual player. If "commercial setting" becomes the criterion for
determining professional status (I hope that's what you mean by "illegal"),
then we can shut down every football program whose games are televised, or
who participate in those big-money bowl games.
"Professional" means the athlete is paid for playing. If you really (which I
doubt) want to root out professionals, who have received money for playing
indoor volleyball, start checking out the off-season activities of some of
the European players that some American schools like Hawaii and BYU are so
hot on. I am not an insider by any stretch of the imagination, but I know of
some guys who have played on the European pro circuits and then for American
colleges in the same year. I didn't report on 'em then, and I'm not going to
do it now, but if you start checking, I'm dead certain you'll find some for
yourself. Get some team pictures from Europe, compare to team pictures from
US colleges, etc.....
For what it's worth, UCLA does not recruit European players, last I heard.
In fact, Al does most of his recruiting within the state where his school is
located, and it's not at all uncommon for his entire travelling team to be
made up of guys who live within easy driving distance of Los Angeles.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with playing as many pre-season scrimmages
as you can manage. If you want to build your team's maturity by playing them
against seasoned teams they've never seen before, more power to you. If you
think the gain in maturity will be greater than the loss to fatigue and
injury, it's your own decision to make. As long as the players don't make
money on it, they're just fine.
Michael Borga
>participation as professional players or even partnering with another
>professional player on the beach circuit. One could argue that Beach VB is a
>different sport from indoor VB. I have not heard a clear justification or
>objective for this prohibition but will not argue against it.
Uh-uh, College palyers may retain their eligibility when playing tennis, golf,
or Beach Volleyball with a Professional Partner, or against Professionals.
I believe that determination was made more than 4 or 5 years ago, and i don't
know for sure, but would not be surprised to find that they have extended that
interp to Volleyball, in general. Which would make it all perfectly fine to
scrimmage or play against Pros.
Do you think that UCLA wouldn't have checked the eligibility ramifications with
the NCAA before going?
And We'll See You on the Beach,
Michael Borga -- Jersey Shore Volleyball Association (JSVBA)
jsvba.com -- 732-506-9449
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/jsvba">Link to JSVBA Website</A>
Hilbert
learning experience to occur once every four years. And the opportunity
is open to all... just have to figure out how to pay for it. Most teams
are not given a free trip by the their school, they apply for grants, do
fundraising, etc.
It happens all the time, from UCLA to Idaho.
L
>
--
Pieter Jan
Now I understand why Team USA has difficulties to redo
the GREAT succes years (1984,1988).
In order to get better players need to play against the best players/teams
they can.
Also I am surprised that a country like USA (with an open mind for things)
comes up with a rule that forbits players/teams to play against the best.
From my own experience I can tell that playing against
team USA and other GREAT teams (Russia, Cuba, Brasil)
made us better and led to the silver (1992) and gold (1996) medal for . I
was one of the pioneer players
of the Dutch National Team and we came up fast from being
10th on the European Champion Ships (1985) to the 5th place on the Olympics
in Seoul (1988). Al because we played
against the best we coould get to play !!!
Looking forward to your reactions, I greet you all,
Pieter Jan Leeuwerink
Pioneer Dutch National Team (1985-1989)
"Hilbert" <lhil...@lamar.ColoState.EDU> schreef in bericht
news:3bdd...@news.ColoState.EDU...
JC07
I think the problem is that there isn´t any cooperation at all between the NCAA
and the NGB´s- i.e. USA Volleyball- therefore we see the differences in rules,
and in this case, also a case of the so-called "equality" rule hurting USA
volleyball in general. But then- why should we be surprised. Only a great
country like the US of A would have things such as Title IX which end up doing
more harm than good in its attempt to "neutralize" things.
If programs want to be successful, they will find ways to fund the things that
they need to do- in this case, playing some international matches- or in other
cases, money allocated to recruiting or facilities, etc... If a program is bad-
no amount of money will help them be successful in the long run. Let capitalism
do its deed- and let the American dream live!
Let ´em play and let ´em play against the best!
God bless America.