The NCAA News - News and Features

May 18, 1998

Conference features variety of leadership education opportunities

Participants in the 1998 NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference will be exposed to a varied program that will explore issues ranging from student-athlete involvement in the restructured NCAA to the image of student-athletes to how coaches relate to student-athletes.

More than 370 student-athletes will participate in this year's conference, which will be conducted May 25-28 at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

The program will begin in earnest the morning of May 26 when attorney Nancy Hogshead, a former Olympic gold-medal swimmer, and Chris Reynolds, director of compliance services at Western Michigan University and a participant in the 1992 Final Four, conduct a session on "Today's Student-Athletes, Tomorrow's Leaders."

Later that morning, participants will divide into eight teams and become involved in breakout sessions that explore "Self as Leader" (Ronald J. Stratten, NCAA group executive director for education services), "Collaborative Leader" (Daniel Boggan Jr., NCAA chief operating officer), "Effective Communication" (Kate Riffee, assistant director of athletics/academic support services, Ohio State University) and "Ethics and Critical Thinking" (Don McPherson, director of mentors and violence prevention at Northeast-ern University).

Next will come a working lunch in which the student-athletes will consider the topic "Is Perception Reality?" in which a panel of five experts will examine what role the media plays in shaping the image of student-athletes. The experts will include Kathryn Reith, women's sports marketing, Nike (moderator) and panelists Tom Curley, publisher of USA Today; Jonell McFadden Priddle, news editor, ESPN; Terence Moore, sports columnist, Atlanta Journal and Constitution; and Dagny Scott, women's sports editor, SHAPE.

The rest of the day will be spent at the Walt Disney World Sports Complex. In part of that time, the student-athletes will be involved in "initiative games" that will test a group's ability to communicate with each other, follow directions and work together to solve a difficult problem. In the evening, polling will be done to gain insight into student-athlete attitudes toward relevant issues.

Wednesday program

On Wednesday, May 27, the student-athletes will hear from David R. Gavitt, past president of the NCAA Foundation and former commissioner of the Big East Conference. Gavitt will speak on "Accepting the Responsibility of Leadership."

For the rest of the morning, each of the eight student-athlete "teams" will conduct discussions on the media's role in shaping student-athlete image, the role of the coach in intercollegiate athletics and the responsibility of student-athletes to act as leaders.

The discussion will continue after lunch.

The Wednesday "working lunch" will feature another panel discussion, this one entitled "Coach, What Position Do You Play?" The program will examine how coaches influence student-athletes and whether coaches are being held to the same conduct standards as student-athletes.

Those on the panel will include Kerry McCoy, assistant wrestling coach, Pennsylvania State University (moderator) and Kathy Brown, head women's soccer coach, Colgate University; Ron Dickerson, head football coach, Alabama State University; and Betsy Emerson, head women's cross country and track and field coach, Luther College.

That night, the NCAA Foundation Banquet, presented by the Entergy Corporation, will feature NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey and Reggie Williams, vice-president of Walt Disney World Sports. ABC and ESPN sports commentator Robin Roberts will serve as emcee.

Conclusion

The program will conclude Thursday, May 28, with each of the eight teams developing a findings document on the issue of student-athlete image.

The document will serve as an aid for athletes to use when they return to their campuses.

The final panel discussion, "Student-Athlete Advisory Committees Panel," will come next. Robin Cunningham, director of academic support services for student-athletes at Seton Hall University, will lead the discussion, which will include student-athlete panelists Nigel Burton of the University of Washington, Kerry Gotham of Nazareth College, Bridget Niland of the State University of New York at Buffalo and Danielle Tiernan of Grand Valley State University.

Robin Roberts will wrap it up with a speech entitled "Need We Say More?"

The program topics were derived from recommendations from participants at the 1997 conference, as well as by the Divisions I, II and III Student-Athlete Advisory Committees.

The participants for this year's event were announced earlier this year (see the March 23 issue of The NCAA News).