Springfield men’s gymnastics coach Steve Posner knows he has many disadvantages as one of only two Division III programs competing with primarily Division I teams for spots in the NCAA’s National Collegiate Men’s Gymnastics Championships. However, he accepts most of those challenges – no scholarships, smaller budgets, a shorter season – because they adhere to the Division III philosophy of student before athlete.

But one disadvantage he can’t support – and hopes to rectify – is an out-of-season practice provision known as the “safety exception” in place for Division I gymnasts, but not for Division III.

The exception allows coaches to provide safety or skill instruction during voluntary out-of-season workouts, and most coaches see it as a necessary precaution for gymnasts who continue to train after the season.

Unlike sports such as basketball or tennis in which an open gymnasium or tennis court allows student-athletes to brush up on their skills independently, gymnasts require spotters to keep them from injuring themselves during complex routines. Gymnastics coaches believe they should be allowed not only to be present in an open gym as spotters, which Division III legislation permits, but also to offer instruction for the purpose of correcting mistakes. While an attempt to revoke the exception was rebuffed in Division I, Division III has consistently been against its removal, believing it would open the door to year-round gymnastics “coaching.”

Francis Allen, men’s gymnastics coach at Nebraska and a member of the Men’s Gymnastics Committee, called the safety exception “one of the smartest things the NCAA has done for men’s gymnastics in a long time.” Before the safety exception, he said, Olympic-caliber gymnasts were skipping college altogether in favor of training privately to practice year-round.

“When you have Olympic-caliber gymnasts, they’ve got to be in the gym,” Allen said. “And there’s no pick-up gymnastics like pick-up basketball.”

Allen said that not having the safety exception for Division III teams is a serious disadvantage for those squads, and for men’s gymnastics overall. With sponsorship numbers dwindling – 18 institutions support varsity programs – men’s gymnastics programs need to offer the opportunity for top athletes to practice when they want while earning their college degrees.

Unlike women’s gymnastics, in which almost all the athletes have already competed at the highest levels internationally, men’s gymnasts often become internationally successful after their college careers. Posner, who chairs the Men’s Gymnastics Committee, said his goal is to maximize the importance of NCAA gymnastics – attracting the top caliber of gymnasts to compete while they also train for international competition.

Because of the scarcity of opportunities for men’s gymnasts, Posner believes even Division III programs could compete with Division I if their student-athletes were allowed access to the gym when they wished.

“We don’t want to take away their ability to be great athletes,” Posner said. “Because the demand for spots is greater than the supply, I can get kids that are good enough to compete on a Division I program. But they can’t get in the gym out of season. It’s like throwing somebody in the water with his hands tied behind his back and his legs tied together.”

Ideally, Posner would like to see the rules of competition for all sports with a National Collegiate Championship apply equally to all teams, no matter the division in which the rest of the school’s program competes. For example, if a team is competing against Division I student-athletes to qualify for a championship, they should have the opportunity to train as much as the Division I student-athletes.

Because the restrictions are legislated, Posner needs support beyond the men’s gymnastics community to get any movement on the issue, and he’s looking to sports such as bowling and men’s volleyball for help. Division I peers Allen and Mark Williams, coach of the defending champion Oklahoma team, already are in Posner's camp.

“It just doesn’t make any sense for our sport, when there’s so many liability issues in the first place,” Williams said. “They ought to have coaches there to help (in Division III).”