The NCAA News - News and Features

June 9, 1997

Student-athletes address issues at leadership conference

A conference designed to train selected student-athletes to be leaders on their campuses far exceeded expectations of organizers.

Billed as the NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference, almost 300 student-athletes from NCAA institutions gathered at the Disney's Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Florida, May 27-30 to discuss critical issues facing student-athletes.

At the outset, organizers reminded the students that they were gathered to attempt to find solutions to two issues -- the image of the student-athlete and career preparation -- and that they were representing 300,000 student-athletes in their efforts.

"The quality of the work these young people created in such a short time in such a unified manner was incredible," said Ronald J. Stratten, NCAA group executive director for education services. "It far exceeded all expectations, and we had strong expectations."

The students received a jump start to their efforts by Ed Lupberger, chairman and president of Entergy Corporation, who opened the conference with a pep talk about the business world's view of student-athletes and what the business community expected of them.

Entergy is a New Orleans-based energy company that had supported the Foundation's "Winning for Life" program and helped underwrite the conference.

After Lupberger's remarks, the students heard from former Kenyon College all-America swimmer and Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship winner Carla Ainsworth before separating into six groups of about 45. Each group was designated by a color and worked with a professional facilitator to identify issues concerning student-athlete image.

After a lunch break, facilitators again met with the groups to help them develop solutions, such as how to move from the perception of student-athletes to the desired image of student-athletes.

"We asked them to look at the issues and they did. What was most extraordinary was how quickly they came together and the high level of critical thinking," Stratten said.

After a breakout session on "Team Leadership: Leading from Within Your Team," the second day was a repeat of the first day but with career preparation as the focus. The morning session involved brainstorming by the student-athletes as to what was available on their campuses to help them prepare for life after college athletics.

"The question was how do you get prepared to take a job, not become a professional athlete. Few of these students will become professional athletes," said David R. Gavitt, president of the NCAA Foundation. "Job experience was mentioned most often as what students want in order to be prepared and competitive in the real world."

Stratten said it was interesting to see the diverse groups all arrive at similar conclusions.

A six-member selection committee in March made a concerted effort to create a group of students that would represent a diverse population from several aspects -- gender, ethnic background and NCAA division.

The committee, composed of CHAMPS/Life Skills coordinators, looked at nominations submitted by NCAA schools involved in the CHAMPS/Life Skills program and selected participants based on their demonstrated leadership ability. Participants from 45 states and four countries represented all divisions, 20 sports, and gender and ethnic diversity.

The last night of the conference, representatives of the two discussion topics were selected from among the participants and interviewed in front of the gathering by Robin Roberts, anchor and sports commentator for ESPN and ABC.

Reggie Williams, vice-president of Disney Wide World of Sports, then spoke to the students about what was expected of them when they return to their campuses and the challenges that lie ahead -- a key part of the conference.

"The student-athletes have to go back to their campuses and work well with athletics administrators, coaches and the other athletes," Stratten said. "We will be very interested in whether athletics administrators support the training the student-athletes received.

"We expect these student-athletes to be leaders. Many of them already are."

To help the students, the NCAA education services staff plans to compile the results of the discussions at the conference and send them to the students in August to help them when they return to their campuses.

A newsletter, to be published quarterly, also is being considered to keep the conference participants in contact with each other as a support system.

"We want these students to have a positive impact on administrators and coaches," Stratten said. "They need to be able to work well with coaches and administrators for mutual problem solving."

Stratten said he already is receiving feedback from athletics departments indicating approval.

Paul Buskirk, CHAMPS/Life Skills coordinator at the University of Kansas, described one of the student-athletes representing Kansas at the conference as "bubbling over with excitement over the experience."

Another coordinator said one
of her student representatives described the conference as the greatest program he had ever been a part of.

Whether a similar conference will be planned will depend on the level of support the NCAA Foundation receives from athletics administrators as well as corporations, Stratten said, but he is hopeful that another conference can be planned.

The first conference was supported through contributions from Entergy and Disney's Wide World of Sports, WorldTek Travel, and various members of the NCAA corporate partner program in conjunction with the NCAA Foundation and the education services staff.