HOUGHTON,
NAIA TACKLE CHARACTER ISSUES IN SPORT
HOUGHTON, N.Y.
– Haywood Hale Broun is noted for saying, “Sports do not build character.
They reveal it.”
While it is true to say that
the game itself may not help an athlete
develop
character, the quote fails to address
the major role played by parents, coaches, referees, teammates, and community
members who, as “role models”, can influence young athletes in positive ways.
They, in a sense, can become the foundation for an athletes’ character
development. A noted speaker on teaching character through sport recently
offered
his own version of Broun's famous quote: “sports
don’t teach character, coaches
do.”
Today, more than 52 million
boys and girls participate in organized sports in the U.S. However, more than
70 percent of youth give up traditional team sports by the age of 13, citing
poor relationships with coaches and parents as the determining factor.
This attrition,
combined
with a media culture that showcases increasingly abhorrent behavior by
athletes, coaches, fans, and parents demands change.
So, who
do these young
athletes turn to for
direction?
The National
Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), an organization of some 290
institutions – including
Houghton College – established
the Champions of Character Initiative in 2000 to instill an understanding
of character values in sport, and
provide
student-athletes, coaches, and parents the training to help them know the
right thing,
do
the right thing, and value the right thing inside and outside the sports
setting.
In essence, the program aims to change the culture of sport by teaching
character through the core values of respect, responsibility, integrity,
servant leadership,
and sportsmanship. A coach at a recent NAIA meeting said it might be more
fitting to say the program’s goal is to “change culture through
sport.”
“The culture of sport is out of perspective,”
said Bruce Brown, national presenter on the initiative for the NAIA. “Every
night on SportsCenter, we see $8-million athletes who say, ‘I don’t have to
practice.’ They have a sense of entitlement. The danger is in the trickle
down of that attitude from the professional athlete to the 10-year-old kid.
What they see affects how they react to a coach, teammate or official.”
A recent survey of high school athletes,
conducted
by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, found that high school athletes are
engaging in unsportsmanlike behavior and breaking the rules of the game
because they believe that cheating is the way to success. The athletes also
said
that coaches aren’t setting good examples, cheating and stealing away from
the field of play is rampant, and hazing and bullying are commonplace.
Seeing that the
culture of sports in
America has
been negatively influenced by widespread incidents of violence, lack of
respect and
unsportsmanlike conduct,
the NAIA introduced the Champions of Character Program, challenging each
member institution with recognizing problem areas and implementing solutions
that will improve the athletic environment on campus and in their own local
communities.
Specifically,
the NAIA believes that people are not participating in athletics for the
right reasons and
that it should be the role of small colleges in
America
to begin moving the culture of sport in the right
direction.
“It won't take place at the professional level because the driving factor is
money. The same thing can be said
about large universities,” said
Brown, a former college coach and administrator. “Local youth sports
don’t
get enough attention, so it is up to the small colleges to take up this role.
“NAIA schools
are unique because the schools are so
diverse, and
typically are located in small towns,” Brown added. “The student-athletes are
visible and approachable in their communities. They can be models
of a being a champion of character. Our athletes can go out and teach these
same things to these young kids.”
Brown and
other NAIA representatives have been traveling the country in support of the
program, making dynamic presentations for corporate audiences,
teams and
clubs, and organizations wishing to impart messages about character values
impacting success.
NAIA schools,
like Houghton, have been using their own coaches and
athletes to re-enforce the message.
HOUGHTON’S
INVOLVEMENT IN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Houghton College has become actively involved
in this initiative, providing educational
programming to its own coaches and
athletes and reaching further into the local communities through its summer
camps and offering special on-campus speakers.
Houghton’s efforts have not gone unnoticed
by the NAIA, which has recognized Houghton as a Champions of Character
Institution in each of the four years of the program.
“We are pleased to be involved
in this highly important program,” said Houghton Athletics Director Skip
Lord. “The Champions of Character initiative is a natural fit for Houghton and
the mission of our department.
We are continually seeking new ways to share the character values on our
campus and
in the local communities.”
In the past year alone,
Houghton
College:
□
Created a
Champions of Character award for local high school athletes who have
demonstrated the core values of the program during the past year. The award
presentation was made in front of 300 local athletes at an assembly held on
Houghton’s campus in April.
□
Brought in former
professional athlete Todd
Blackledge to speak on “Being a Difference Maker.” More than 300 local high
school athletes were in attendance.
□
Stressed the
Champions of Character core values during daily presentations at its
basketball and volleyball camps. Each camp also included an overview of the
Champions of Character program and a look at the NAIA. Select volleyball
campers received t-shirts for their demonstration of the “core value of the
day,” while the basketball campers signed a poster stating they wanted to be
“champions of character.”
□
Established a new
program in 2004-05 called the Champions of Character Kids’ Club. This
initiative was implemented to encourage youth 13 and under to attend Houghton
athletic contests, but also includes elements to teach the core values of the
Champions of Character program. The Champions of Character logo appears on
all promotional material for the program, including t-shirts given to all
Kids’ Club members.
□
Also, Houghton
teams volunteered
on Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Day, tackling work projects throughout
Western New York in the spring, the men’s and
women’s soccer teams helped clean the Houghton Academy dorms before the fall
semester, and the men’s basketball team participated in a kids’ reading
program at the King Charter School in Buffalo in November.
HOUGHTON SELECTED AS
CHARACTER PROGRAM CENTER
The next step for the NAIA is
to expand the reach of the initiative by establishing Champions of Character
Program Centers on campuses across the nation. And Houghton has been chosen
as one of only 13 NAIA schools to serve as one of these Program centers.
These centers will allow NAIA
coaches and
athletes to serve as certified
instructors and trainers to work with youth as well as career and volunteer
coaches to educate, promote, and incorporate the five core character values
within the daily
activities of youth in their communities.
The NAIA held a session in
December at their national office in Olathe, Kan., to begin training coaches
and administrators from these 13 charter schools. Five representatives from
Houghton were in attendance, including men’s soccer coach Matthew Webb, who
serves as the college’s Champions of Character coordinator.
“Being a program center ties in
very well with the mission of our college and with what we are already doing
through the Champions of Character program,” said Webb. “This is just the
next step. We want to continue to build
on what we’ve been doing
and
reach as many people as we can. We want to be seen as the primary source for
character education
through sport in the Northeast.”
Webb foresees the Program
Center offering training to local colleges, high schools, youth sports
organizations, and to parents. “We would like to be able to provide
presentations to these groups on appropriate behavior and
the value and
benefits of teaching character in the sport setting,” he added.
The college is currently
working with the NAIA to finalize a character education curriculum that could
be used throughout the school year by coaches in the local schools.
For Houghton to maintain its
Program
Center status, the
college’s coaches and athletes must go through a variety of training courses
offered
through the NAIA, a minimum of 12 student-athletes
must be designated as students of character, and the college must provide
outreach programming to at least 2,500 people each year.
Houghton has already begun
meeting these requirements, including the creation of the first Athletes
Leadership Council, a group of 12 student-athletes who will serve as an
advisory group to the athletic department administration, provide feedback
for the Champions of Character program, and serve as liaisons between their
fellow athletes and the athletic department administration.
For more information on the
NAIA Champions of Character Program, go online:
http://www.naia.org/campaign/character/index.html
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