When the new NCAA Hall of Champions opens to the public March 30, visitors will be able to see, touch, hear and feel the student-athlete experience like never before.

The Hall will use a variety of cutting-edge multimedia techniques to engage, educate and entertain its visitors, but the whole point is something even more simple: to put a "face" on the NCAA and to help people understand what the Association is about.

"The Hall of Champions speaks to the very heart of the NCAA's mission -- promoting and supporting the student-athlete," said Cedric W. Dempsey, president of the NCAA.

"The Hall will provide an opportunity for the NCAA to tell the story of the journey student-athletes take in preparing themselves to become champions, not always as the ones who win the medals and trophies, but in pursuit of excellence and lifelong values. It will certainly put a face on the NCAA and its most important asset -- the student-athlete."

The first-floor exhibit area will give visitors a historic look at the NCAA and its mission, but it will do so in a way that is inviting and interactive, incorporating the pageantry and traditions of intercollegiate athletics.

For example, visitors will learn about NCAA programs and NCAA history, but they also will have the chance to use interactive touchpads to look up their favorite fight songs and school cheers. Visitors will see a time line of NCAA history, but they also can take their place alongside figures in a life-size sculpture of athletes in a "flying wedge," which was a dangerous football formation that helped lead to the NCAA's founding in 1906.

"The idea is to truly tell the story of the NCAA -- what it is and how it serves its members -- while conveying the positive aspects of the Association that people often don't know," said James W. Shaffer, director of the Hall of Champions. "We anticipate that people will come away saying, 'I didn't know the NCAA did that,' or 'I didn't realize there were so many sports, or so many student-athletes.' "

More than title holders

Shaffer said the Hall uses technology to capture the many elements that make up intercollegiate athletics and the student-athlete experience.

"The Hall reflects the mission of the NCAA by stressing the importance of education and the lifelong values of athletics, which go far beyond participation," Shaffer said. "The Hall captures what it truly means to be a student-athlete, and it emphasizes that the student-athlete's journey is not one of simply pursuing the title but of becoming a leader and a productive citizen. The effort in striving to become a champion prepares people as champions for a lifetime."

Much of the Hall of Champions will be devoted to the concept of what it means to be a champion -- again with the focus on what it means to be a champion in life, not just in one particular competition. That charge was made clear to the Hall's designers from the very beginning.

"It was a challenge," said John Crank, a designer with 1717, a firm from Richmond, Virginia, that was responsible for many of the exhibit components. "We knew it was about defining a champion, not about who won. And it was clear early on that this was an opportunity for the NCAA to present its public face, to tell its own story."

Several exhibits provide visitors with a unique look at champions and the quest to become one. "Look up to champions" is a multimedia presentation on a video screen viewed from under a hanging scoreboard in the Great Hall, where visitors enter. It provides literally a worm's-eye view of 14 different NCAA sports.

"It ties into the message 'What is a champion?' but in a fun way," said designer Bruce Hornstein of Pyramid Studios, another Richmond firm responsible for all of the multimedia elements in the Hall.

The Champions Theater, a 90-seat, three-screen theater located on the first floor of the Hall, will give visitors an up-close look at the competitive spirit and how it begins so simply, with just a child and a ball.

And the Wall of Champions, a 144-monitor wrap-around video wall, will give visitors a memorable look at the spirit of champions. The wall blends specially filmed competition footage with terms illustrating concepts such as speed, teamwork and strength. Other elements that compose the essence of a champion, such as perseverance, attitude, discipline, respect and honor, also are displayed.

"Visitors can relate these concepts to their lives, even if they aren't athletes," Shaffer said. "They can come away saying, 'If I have perseverance, if I have discipline, if I have a positive attitude and respect others, I too can become a champion -- in life.' "

Diversity matters

Yet another visible way the Hall reflects the goals of the NCAA is its purposeful inclusion of competitors who are from a variety of sports, a variety of different sized schools, a variety of ethnic backgrounds and both genders.

"Diversity has been a big issue," Hornstein said. "And that was emphasized to us from the very beginning. We wanted to have diversity in a lot of different ways."

Hornstein said the Hall needed to show that intercollegiate athletics was not limited to any one gender, sport or race.

"I think we've done a good job showing all types of diversity," Hornstein said, noting that that particular detail was taken into account in virtually every element of the Hall. "From rowing to rifle, every one of the 22 NCAA sports is represented, and the different types of people who compete are represented as well."

Crank points out that the conscious effort to be inclusive creates a subtle message that visitors take away with them. "There's a message there, whether you realize it or not," Crank said. "You go away saying, 'I didn't know there were that many different types of sports, that many different types of athletes, that many schools.' And (you also get the idea that) all of the sports, all of the athletes, all of the schools are important."

One unique exhibit that reflects the NCAA's commitment to gender equity, for example, is the Final Four Theater. A small, round theater with 26 different video monitors, it will use technology to illustrate how much the men's and women's basketball tournaments have in common.

Visitors enter either from behind the men's championship panel or from behind the women's championship panel, and depending on their point of entry, they see and hear either the men's March to the Final Four or the women's March to the Final Four. By simply turning around in the round theater, visitors can see the other screen.

"The Final Four Theater, that's a Title IX showcase if there ever was one," Hornstein said. "It presents the men's and women's tournaments simultaneously, on equal footing. And the message there is that there isn't one of them that's more worthy, or more exciting, or more meaningful for the student-athletes. Men's or women's basketball -- the story is the same."

The Hall's designers had to make the most of state-of-the-art technology to make the unusual theater work.

"It was probably one of the most difficult challenges from a technological standpoint," Hornstein said. Different speakers behind the visitors will provide the different sounds depending on which screen they are viewing, and there are many common sounds that the entire audience will hear.

Hall all part of the 'Plan'

Just last month the Association launched the first phase of its new public affairs plan, which is designed to increase public awareness about the mission of the NCAA and its emphasis on student-athletes. The plan will continue to evolve -- with ongoing input from the NCAA membership-- over the next six years leading up to the Association's 100-year anniversary.

So, as the NCAA continues to make more people aware of the Association's emphasis on student-athlete welfare, that task will be aided by the existence of the Hall of Champions and its emphasis on the student-athlete experience.

"The whole premise of the public affairs plan is to emphasize the NCAA's focus on the student-athlete," said Danita Edwards, NCAA vice-president for public affairs. "The Hall provides something tangible and dynamic to reflect the student-athlete experience.

"The NCAA also is focused on helping people understand that the student-athlete is a student first, and the Hall mimics that focus with its emphasis on education as an important part of intercollegiate athletics."

Another element of the public affairs plan is helping people to understand the many functions of the NCAA and also to understand that there are many people on college campuses and at conferences who make up the membership and guide the Association's rules and programs. That's another area where the Hall can help educate visitors, Edwards said.

"The plan is focused on the NCAA and intercollegiate athletics as a whole," Edwards said. "We will continue to make modifications to the plan as we gather information from our membership.

"We are working to help people understand -- even people who work in intercollegiate athletics -- that the NCAA equals its membership and the membership equals the NCAA."

Again, the idea is to put a face on the NCAA, something that the Hall will most certainly do.