Women's water polo reaches requirement for NCAA approval

The Daily Bruin LOS ANGELES, Calif.(U-WIRE)-- Women's water polo becoming a NCAA championship sport was never a question of if, but when. When there were only five varsity teams in the nation five years ago, it seemed doubtful if colleges would have the 40 teams required to be eligible for NCAA championships by the year 2000. This month, New York's Hartwick College announced it will move its women's water polo club team to the Division I level. Hartwick's addition brings the collegiate varsity team total to 40 and makes the sport eligible for a fully funded NCAA championship. "It's huge," Nicolle Payne, former UCLA All-American goalie and current national team member, said. "The sport has come a long way, and it's still growing. It's exciting to watch it progress and become an NCAA sport. It's going to be great for the girls to be able to play in a NCAA championship." Hartwick expects to begin varsity competition in the 2000-2001 academic year, but U.S. Water Polo, the national governing body for the sport, is working with collegiate conferences to petition the NCAA to sanction the championship as early as possible, targeting the spring of 2000. Women's water polo is currently governed by the Women's Collegiate Rules Committee, which does not have any affiliation with national governing bodies like the NCAA. With a relatively small number of participating colleges, rules and protocol concerning championships are less formal and even qualified club teams can participate. USWP helps fund the national championship, but it doesn't provide any specific governance. As an NCAA sport, the national championship will be fully funded, which is the major difference between the current and future situations. Another difference is that the championship will be comprised only of varsity teams, whereas currently the national championship can have club and varsity teams. And the number of tournament participants is likely to be reduced from the current cap of 16. "In the administrative level, there's certain amount of credibility now that can be associated with women's water polo because it'll be an NCAA championship sport," Guy Baker, head coach of the UCLA water polo program and the U.S. women's national team, said. "Potentially where it can help the sport is that some of the bigger schools outside of Pac-10, like the Big 10 and SEC, will hopefully want to add on women's water polo as part of their growing women's sports program," Baker added. "If we can get those schools to come aboard, we can benefit as a bigger sport." Women's water polo has taken a giant stride in size and popularity within the past several years. In the early '90s, it wasn't even sanctioned as a high school sport in Southern California. Title IX and subsequent legal pressures over gender equity prodded the NCAA to declare women's water polo as an emerging sport -- one intended to provide additional athletic opportunities to female student athletes -- in 1993.