Koch Represents SCAC on NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee

Photo courtesy of Dave Reed
Photo courtesy of Dave Reed

(Story courtesy of Colorado College Athletics Department)

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Colorado College rising senior Megan Koch began her two-year term as a primary member of the National Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) in January. In her role, Koch works alongside 23 other committee members to represent nearly 200,000 Division III student-athletes from across the country.

In addition to attending each of the four annual SAAC meetings, Koch, a member of CC's cross country and track teams, serves on the student-athlete reinstatement committee which reviews cases of student-athletes who request to have their NCAA eligibility reinstated.
 
"My involvement has been feeling out the groundwork for what it means to be a national SAAC member," Koch said. "The overarching message that I've gotten is that it means you're a representative of your student-athlete peers, and you take a critical focus on the issues that are facing the NCAA, as well as bringing up issues you think are relevant to the student-athlete experience."
 
When Koch started seeing reports of inequities between the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments, she brought it up to the committee. Then, during the Division III national SAAC meeting in early April, the committee spent more than an hour discussing what happened at the tournament and how they can work toward making sure something like that doesn't happen again.
 
During her time on the national committee, Koch plans to advocate for issues she is passionate about, including gender equality, race equality, mental health concerns, and protecting the rights of transgender athletes.
 
"I have a lot of ambitions that I intend on really going for, so I'm not going to make my time in this position kind of a lull period," Koch said.
 
Koch doesn't plan to focus solely on the issues she is interested in, she also wants to represent all Colorado College and Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference student-athletes. To do that, she wants to become more visible on campus and she encourages student-athletes to reach out to her about their experiences. Koch also will work with the SCAC's partner conference, the American Southwest Conference. One of their student-athletes is an associate member of the national Division III SAAC, and attend two of the annual conferences.
 
"I want to hear things that we can work on and improve, but I also want to hear what's working, because if something is working for one team or one conference, that's something that we can spread," Koch said.
 
Koch sees this moment in time, as the world begins to think about what post-pandemic life will look like, as an opportunity to make decisions about how college athletics can change or improve. Competition is resuming after all NCAA sports stopped in 2020, but everything is not back to "normal" yet.

"I want to be part of the energy that causes us to move forward in a way that makes sports better," Koch said. "I think if we just go back to the way things were, we're missing out on an opportunity to improve something that has the power to be very impactful. Sports have shaped my college experience like no other experience I've been a part of, but doesn't mean that they're perfect."
 
An important part of Koch's job is to make sure that the NCAA hears from student-athletes and that their input is considered in decision making, especially as they are planning for post-pandemic athletics.
 
"We're trying to ask critical questions because at the end of the day, if the heart of the NCAA is supposed to be serving student-athletes, we need to figure out how we can do that better," Koch said. "And I think one of the ways that we can is just really critically analyzing the way things were, the way things were in the pandemic, and the possibilities of what can be in the future."
 
Koch also is an officer on Colorado College's SAAC where she is the chair of the campus events committee, and she serves on the diversity and inclusion subcommittee. This coming year, Koch will be the SAAC president. While her role on the national SAAC focuses on all Division III student-athletes, Koch also wants to empower her fellow student-athletes at CC to work to enact change on campus.
 
"My call to my fellow student-athletes at CC is just think about what the student athlete experience they want looks like," Koch said. "Then get involved in some way of making that happen, whether that's talking to your coaches or trying to talk to your teammates about changing your team culture."
 
Recently, she served as one of two representatives of the Division III national SAAC and the Division III student-athletes on a call with the Division I Board of Directors and Board of Governors to review the implications of the Supreme Court ruling on NCAA vs. Alston and the interim plan the NCAA is revising to put in place on July 1.
 
"This was a one-time meeting, but it was an incredible opportunity to give feedback on the next steps in this important NIL era," Koch said.

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