The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics announced this morning that it would sponsor legislation to ban the Mikan Drill in basketball.

The CWA expressed doubt about the drill's value. While some coaches claim that it is important, there have been no empirical studies demonstrating its efficacy, and so there is no way to measure the true validity of the coaches' argument.

Moreover, even if the drill has some value, the Committee pointed out that a decision should not always be based solely on the positives of an action, but must also weigh the negative impact it may have.

The Mikan Drill requires a player to shoot layups at a basket repeatedly. While that player is shooting, no other player may use that basket. Most teams do not have 14 baskets at their practice facility. Therefore, if a team uses the Mikan Drill in practice, several players must sit and watch. Female student-athletes were were recruited to participate in intercollegiate athletics at many other institutions. To have them sitting out of practice while their teammates run the Mikan Drill is costing them the opportunity for growth and betterment that they were promised during recruitment.

The Committee noted, moreover, that the drill is named after a men's basketball player, former Laker great George Mikan. The message to female athletes seems to be "if you want to be good, you must learn to play like a man." Use of the Mikan Drill thus implies an archaic notion of male preeminence that continues to impede progress toward gender equity and inclusion.

While some progress has been made in women's athletics, we are still under siege. Any action such as the use of the Mikan Drill that threatens the quality of the athletics participation for a large number of females is a step backwards.

NCAA President Myles Brand praised the Committee for its work. "This is a complicated issue," he said, "and there are two sides to the argument." Brand said he had not yet made up his mind.