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Show Rule Changes Made In MIA Basketball Program Smaller Wards Get Break From New Rules Several important changes were made in the future MIA basketball program at the sports committee meeting of June conference in Salt Lake City. The meetings, held in conjunction conjunc-tion with the annual MIA conference, confer-ence, also heard plans for construction con-struction of a new softball park, and accepted tournameni dates in softball and basketball. ' The sports committee, under the direction of Chairman Marv Ashton, announced that the annual an-nual senior basketball tournament will be held Feb. 28 - March 3 in the field house of Brigham Young University in Provo. The action abandons last season's sea-son's innovation of conducting the affair in mid-February. The com-t com-t mittee decided that the tremendous tremen-dous set-up required in division play by the early date, as well as heavy storms, worked too much of a hardship on the program. Changes in eligibility, aimed at equalizing competition, affects wards in college areas Provo, Salt Lake City and Logan. The new residence rule requires that "a team must have at least three permanent residents of the ward on the playing floor at all times. A permanent resident is defined as one who has lived in boundaries of the ward for at least two full years prior to October 1 of the playing year." This means that college students stu-dents living in the nearby wards only during the school year will not be eligible for competition. (Continued On Back Page) MIA BASKETBALL .... (Continued from Page 1) The other rule change concerns college lettermen and states that "No ward may have more than two four-year college basketball lettermen on its team. . . Where a ward has more than one letter-man letter-man on its team, no more than one may participate in a game at a time." The new aspect of the rule limits the number of lettermen who may participate at any one time. The basketball program, according accord-ing to figures released at the meeting, hit an all-time high in participation. A total of 1,197 teams and more than 10,000 players play-ers took part. The new softball park, to be located at Second West and 23rd South, will be ready for use for the junior and senior tournaments, the . committee said. Construction cost for the four-diamond area will be $100,000, the committee revealed. The junior tournament will be held from August 16 to 23, and the senior from Aug. 23 to 27. Both meets will be conducted on a 32-team basis for the first time in the short history of the rapidly rapid-ly growing program. A total of 13,500 took part in softball last year. Continued expansion of the entire en-tire MIA sports program was indicated in-dicated with announcement that a junior volleyball tournament will be held for the first time next spring. |