There has been an announcement that Taekwondo will begin as an NCAA sport in 2017. But, anyone know which colleges will support such NCAA teams?
This might provide a clue: http://ncta-usa.com/2016/05/17/2016-ncta-championships-results-posted/
Pac 12, Ivy would be good bets.
@ProudDad26 where did you see that announced? There has been talk of trying to make it happen for a long time, but no real progress has been made. The last I hired about it was last year, a new organization called the USCT had come about and was trying to make it happen. The NCTA released this statement regarding that effort: http://ncta-usa.com/2016/04/12/april-letter-to-ncta-membership-regarding-ncaa-recognition-and-usct/ something I feel is a fairly accurate assessment of things. I can say that as a college taekwondo coach I have heard no news about this in the last 6 months, and would be fairly surprised to see it happen by 2017. I would be very interested to see the announcement, though, stranger things have happened.
If it were to happen it would likely begin with schools that already have established club teams that compete regularly either in college leagues like the ECTC, or schools that regularly compete at the NCTA collegiate nationals, as it is common that when starting a new varsity program the school will begin by taking top members from the club level or even moving the club to varsity status altogether.
I do see this from USCT: http://usct.lighthousewebdev.com/1st-national-championship-may-2017/
However I am still curious as to the legitimacy of this claim given the young age of this organization and a lack of any announcement (at least that I can find) from either the NCAA, or USTA.
Schools are required to maintain a certain number of officially sanctioned teams to stay in the NCAA’s good graces, so I can see taekwando being used to replace more costly sports.
@UmichTKDCoach the link you provided (in your second post) is the one I was referring to - but, perhaps I over read and that decisions are premature. Are colleges moving forward with NCAA applications? I note that the "Based upon the successes. . . " line may be a disclaimer to this event occurring. It’s sad actually. There is really no mechanism that I can see for a serious TKD athlete to pursue higher level competition without dropping out from college. Most/all successful national/world/Olympic TKD champions do not go to college. That’s a sorry state of the sport. (Please correct me if I’m mistaken). I hope that NCAA TKD develops to support scholar/athletes in this area.
@UmichTKDCoach also, take a look at this very recent announcement by USAT: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Taekwondo/Features/2016/August/25/Task-Force-formed-for-NCAA-Emerging-Sports-for-Women-Program Collegiate teams that are interested should be contacting poc’s.
@ProudDad26 I agree it is very unfortunate that there is currently not a way for athletes to compete at a varsity level and are forced to choose between committing to training or committing to school. Some are able to do both but it is not common enough. The link that you shared is from teamusa is very intriguing in my opinion.
Also sorry can you clarify what you meant by “poc’s” I am not familiar with the term.
pocs = points of contact
Good evening to all. I am the President of USCT and am on the NCAA task-force now lead by USAT and am one of 7 founders of the effort o get TKD into the NCAA. This post is the definitive answer concerning where we are with NCAA taekwondo. @UmichTKDCoach I am sorry but the NCTA link you provided lists both inaccurate and slanderous information that has been fully and very publicly discredited. Ill be as brief as possible: There was a group of 7 coaches that got together at nationals three years ago to start this program. As a result of our findings of no progress made in prior attempts we formed the organization USCT. We built a relationship with the NCAA , developed an application strategy that no other person or organization had attempted prior to our involvement. We initially shared both our findings and documentation with NCTA and tried to work with them until they misused the information and opened a competing proposal process even after being told that this was one of the primary reasons for being denied when applying. A big fuss ensued involving PATU and ■■■. After some time USCT completed a draft application along with NCAA compliant rules for team competition and we were ready to begin collecting the support letters necessary to file our application with NCAA. These rules were demoed in a test competition held during the PATU sanctioned Pan Am TKD championship last year. Enter USAT, We established a working relationship with USAT and have been working with them closely ever since. After USAT entered it was mutually agreed by all parties that USAT would be the best organization to spearhead the effort. This is when the NCAA task-force was developed. During the last year USCT and USAT have tired diligently to get the group to work together but one part of the group has prevented the process from moving forward as the current set up has been to require all three parties to cooperate to make anything happen. As of December 2016 USCT has been given directive by USAT to move things forward with assistance and oversight of USAT. So, as of January we will have completed the NCAA application rules for TKD and they will be ratified. Why January? We are incorporating the new ■■■ rules as applied to NCAA requirements. After this we will move forward with contacting NCAA schools for thier support. We (USAT and USCT) also intend to attend the NCAA conference meeting in Tennessee in mid January. Also, USCT has started the first Team High School league as required by the NCAA. This is the first time this has ever been attempted in the USA and we now have the participation of 20 states along with signed operating agreements with USAT and AAU. It might also be of interest that USAT has approved the first USA High School Team National Championship to be held in conjunction with USAT Nationals in Detroit. You may also reach me at pherring@wcma.us
Apparently CC does not like the abbreviation for World Taekwondo Federation… makes it into “***”
I think you meant to say it makes it into WT*.
While NCTA was at one point involved with the NCAA effort; USCT www.usct.us and on FB @ https://www.facebook.com/United-States-Collegiate-Taekwondo-1695940933985171/ has been the driving force behind this effort. USAT is now a major backer and under their leadership and that of the USOC there is a great opportunity for the sport!