NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) is an association organizes athletic programs of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals in the United States and Canada. NCAA's headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In August 1973, NCAA membership adopted the current three-division setup of Division I, Division II, and Division III. Under NCAA rules, Athletes of Division I and Division II can offered scholarships but Division III schools could not offer. Larger schools from united states and canada compete in Division I and other smaller schools in II and III.
In 1978 NCAA football Division I was further divided into into I-A and I-AA in 1978. Subsequently the term "Division I-AAA" was briefly added to delineate Division I schools which do not field a football program at all, but that term is no longer officially used by the NCAA. In 2006, Divisions I-A and I-AA were respectively renamed the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
The NCAA's structure is splitted into cabinets and committees, which consists of various representatives of its member schools. Sports sanctioned by the NCAA includes basketball, baseball (men), softball (women), football (men), cross country, field hockey (women), bowling (women), golf, fencing (coeducational), lacrosse, soccer, gymnastics, rowing (women only), volleyball, ice hockey, water polo, rifle (coeducational), tennis, skiing (coeducational), track and field, swimming and diving, and wrestling (men). | |
