National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

March 10, 1997

Annual life skills conference draws 140 participants

More than 140 people representing approximately 105 NCAA institutions and two conferences attended the second annual CHAMPS/ Life Skills continuing-education conference February 15-18 in San Diego.

Speakers included several life skills coordinators; Ray Myers, a diversity consultant; and two former NCAA student-athletes.

Warner Smith, former football student-athlete at the University of Arizona, and Billie Winsett-Fletcher, former volleyball student-athlete at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and 1996 NCAA Woman of the Year, opened the conference by presenting a student-athlete's perspective of CHAMPS/Life Skills.

Smith stressed the importance of career development.

"I've had a couple of interviews, and they ask me what internships I've had. I say, 'Uh, football,' " Smith said. "That's where I got shortchanged as a student-athlete; that's where I short-changed myself."

Winsett-Fletcher said that Nebraska's life skills program was one of the primary reasons that she chose to be a Cornhusker, plus the fact that Keith Zimmer, Nebraska's life skills coordinator, was her ally from the beginning.

"Other schools recruiting me didn't even know what a life skills program was. It was a real plus for Nebraska," she said.

Meg Murray, life skills director at Southwest Texas State University, and Cindy Peterson, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at Southwest Texas State, discussed strategies to help at-risk college students through a holistic use of technology.

Murray said they had chosen to use a technology-supported, holistic approach because technology is a transferable skill. Computer labs are a necessity, and they must have ethernet connections and access to the World Wide Web.

"Our coaches agreed to take hits in their budgets to fund computer labs," Murray said.

Myers, who is a nationally recognized trainer in diversity, leadership development and management, previewed the newest CHAMPS/ Life Skills curriculum component, "Understanding and Celebrating Diversity," which he developed.