Triathlon Set To Be An Official NCAA Sport?
Female triathletes may have the opportunity to attend college on an athletic scholarship in the near future.
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The following article from Ncaa.org says that women’s triathlon may be the next addition to the the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s list of official sports.
Ask fitness buffs what’s on their bucket lists and many will say they’d like to participate in a triathlon at least once in their lifetime. Well, if the strokes, spokes and strides keep trending forward, chances are a lot more women will get to check that one off their lists by the time they get out of college.
Officials associated with the NCAA’s emerging-sports program think the swimming-cycling-running combo is the next big sport in the varsity queue. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics already has six of the 10 letters of support necessary to begin testing the waters on whether NCAA members would adopt legislation establishing triathlon as an emerging sport.
The six letter-writers are Adams State, Air Force, Arizona, Colorado-Colorado Springs, Marymount (Virginia) and Monmouth. Navy also has indicated an intent to sign on, which would leave just three others necessary by the next deadline of June 1, 2013.
People involved with triathlon think once the sport hits that emerging start-gate, it will be but a sprint to the 40 sponsoring schools necessary to reach the NCAA championship-status finish line.
“The collegiate scene is definitely open to triathlon,” said Navy coach Billy Edwards. “The participation level is high already, and the sport is growing overall. If it were to become an NCAA championship sport, it would encourage schools to commit more resources to those participation opportunities. That’s what we want.”
Read more: Ncaa.org