Before the CHAMPS/Life Skills continuing education conference, 51 individuals attended the CHAMPS/Life Skills orientation session for those whose institutions are new to the program and for those who are new life skills coordinators.

The training was mandatory for institutional representatives from the 33 NCAA institutions that recently added the CHAMPS/Life Skills program. (Currently, 324 institutions participate in the program, up from the 46 that participated in 1991, the program's first year.)

"The idea is to ensure that the participants leave with an understanding of how to implement their life skills program," said Michael Gant, NCAA education outreach program coordinator. "We wanted them to learn about the successes of others and the roadblocks they can expect along the way.

"We also wanted them to have an understanding of how to build a network of people on their campus and in their community to help them make their program a success. Every life skills program is not identical. They are based on student-athlete needs on each campus.

"We also wanted orientation participants to leave with an understanding of the resources available to them, not just from the NCAA but also through their contact with other life skills coordinators."

This year's orientation session included more opportunities for coordinators to engage in dialogue with each other, something that past participants had requested.

"We heard that people got a lot out of informal discussions with each other, and we wanted to provide more opportunity for that dialogue," Gant said.

To that end, participants were divided into teams based on their institutions' NCAA divisions, and team leaders were directed to engage participants in formal and informal discussions about a variety of topics related to launching a CHAMPS/Life Skills program on campus.

"We wanted to offer them the opportunity to share with others who had like problems, like opportunities and like resources," Gant said. "And I think the team leaders did an incredible job of creating an environment for that dialogue. Participants left feeling that it wasn't as overwhelming as they thought it might be, and they also were able to walk away with a lot of useful information."

Following a formal welcome and an introduction to the program's mission, orientation participants had a diversity education session, presented by Ray Myers of MultiVersity Associates. This interactive session helped participants learn ways to build bridges with others on their campus, as well as giving them ideas for diversity-related activities with student-athletes.

Much of the rest of the agenda was devoted to the nuts and bolts of establishing a CHAMPS/Life Skills program, from determining what issues to focus on initially to locating resources and getting athletics administration support.

"We charged participants with limiting themselves to one or two elements of the program --activities or events that they thought they could do well -- so they could then plan to build off their successes," Gant said.

If your institution is interested in adding CHAMPS/Life Skills, contact Gant at 317/917-6222 for additional details. Only NCAA institutions participating in the CHAMPS/Life Skills program are eligible to send student-athletes to the NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference.