Sports

NJCAA limits number of international athletes allowed to compete

By Tyler Ohmann

04/24/2012

In what might be a landmark decision, the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) recently announced the approval of a number of provisions to their by-laws following their annual meeting.

One accepted proposal will greatly affect Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB).

The by-law proposal, which limits the number of international student-athletes on a college’s roster, goes into effect on August 1.

The proposal states, “one-quarter of the total number of letter of intent/scholarships allowed per association by-laws for each sport.”

Previously the rule allowed for an unlimited number of international athletes if they were not on scholarship.
DCB Athletic Director Scott Johnson said the change will affect DCB mightily in three sports: volleyball, baseball and especially, hockey.

“The change is going to be pretty big, because on our hockey roster we had 15 Canadians, and now we can only have four,” Johnson said. “And not only just Canadians, it can be Canadians, Swedes or anybody (foreign).”

DCB head hockey coach Travis Rybchinski looked at the situation in a couple of different ways.

“This really hurts us with players from Manitoba who are right across the border. We will be going from 10-15 kids from Canada to three-four. It will also hurt us attracting European players as well,” Rybchinski stated. “On the other end it might give more American kids more chances. It is disappointing as we have had some great international players and people and now we will have less.”

Johnson and the college formerly put forth a proposal to add the following provision:

“Regions that border Canada are exempt from counting Canadian students as international athletes.”

The proposal to the by-law was not approved.

“I think it’s really unfair, and that’s why we tried to get the proposal through to allow Canadians, because they border us,” Johnson said. “It is almost closer for us to Canada than anywhere else.”

“It is almost discrimination against the Canadians,” Johnson continued. “If you have four international athletes on the hockey team and someone from Canada comes down and wants to play they can’t. I think that is unfair for them.”

According to Johnson the NJCAA enacted the rule due to some issues in soccer and tennis with international athletes.

For the present DCB knows it will be in need of an adjustment, but Johnson thinks they will get through the whole process.

“It is certainly going to effect recruiting and several different things,” Johnson said. “I still think we’ll have full rosters and everything, I just think we’ll have to look a few different places for athletes.”

Johnson stated that DCB will strive hard to try and recruit talented local players first and foremost, before looking elsewhere, but that isn’t always possible.

“It is going to put a financial strain on the college for sure,” Johnson added. “And it’s going to take some more travel and some more work no doubt, and we still want to have high quality teams, so we’ll have to find American athletes somewhere.”

In order to ease the financial constraints that will come with having to extend recruiting range within the states, Johnson proposes some more technological ways to recruit.

“With the internet, you can find a lot of stats and talk to coaches, so we’ll have to do more of that,” Johnson said. “It’s a challenge, but with life there are always challenges.”

Rybchinski said it will definitely change his recruiting plan.

“We will need to get out of our comfort zone more when it comes to recruiting. I will have to attend more games which leads to more travel, which leads to more money on an already tight budget,” Rybchinski stated. “I also will have to be more selective on which international players can come to Bottineau.”

The NJCAA did also pass a by-law proposal which limits the age of international athletes at 22, which is something that Johnson would be fine with.

“Look at the NCAA where they have some rules on age, I’d be OK with that,” Johnson said. “But when you look at Boissevain, which is so close, and you tell those young men and women they can’t play because of where they are from, that just doesn’t seem right.”

While the by-law will change DCB athletics, Johnson knows the only way to deal with change is to adapt.

“When you can’t do anything to change them, you have to work with them,” Johnson said.” But we’ll still try and change it.”

Johnson stated that the colleges in the region along with some regions along the Mexican border will again propose an amendment that will attempt to exempt border regions from having the limit on athletes from neighboring countries.

Rybchinski and Johnson both hope that a change can be enacted. Rybchinski, who is a native of Canada, played for the Jacks in his college career, which gives him a unique perspective toward this rule.

“I understand why they did it, but it hurts the small schools. The schools that made this proposal were ones who have tens of thousands of students and in the end it hurts schools like ours,” Rybchinski stated. “It is very disappointing as I think if this rule was along 15 years ago maybe I (may) have not came to Bottineau and would have never gotten the opportunity of meeting so many great people and attending a great school. I hope we can get it changed as soon as the 2013-14 school year.”