LONG BEACH, California -- It takes rain to make a garden grow, so the endless showers in Long Beach, California, site of the 2001 CHAMPS/Life Skills Continuing Education Seminar February 10-13, seemed appropriate.

The seminar theme, "Here We Grow Again: Cultivating Our CHAMPS/Life Skills Programs," reflected the seminar's goals of growth.

And the 265 participants, the most ever for the event, took advantage of the bounty of topics offered this year. Hazing, sportsmanship, peer mentoring, conflict resolution, eating disorders, gambling and agent awareness were just some of the topics covered in break-out sessions.

Another general session examined due process within the campus judicial system, and yet another focused on the unique char-
acteristics of today's college students.

Last year's seminar had introduced attendees to the value of small-group sessions, so this year's event offered the best of both worlds -- a combination of small-group time to process material learned in the larger general sessions or the topical break-out groups.

The garden theme was the idea of the CHAMPS/Life Skills Program Advisory Team. It was meant to reflect this year's goals at the seminar and was loosely based on the book "The Tao of Personal Leadership," by Diane Dreher.

"If we look to the four seasons as a metaphorical model for program growth and development, we could say that there is a time to plant, a time to grow, a time for harvesting and a time to assess and evaluate," said Lori A. Hendricks, NCAA education outreach programs coordinator.

The sessions offered at the 2001 conference reflected each phase of the seasonal cycle, with some sessions designed for schools with established life skills programs and others designed for schools that are new to life skills.

NCAA legislation has planted the seed for many Division I institutions to start growing a CHAMPS/
Life Skills program. Legislation passed in Division I last year called for all Division I institutions to offer a life skills program by August 1, 2000.

The growth of this year's orientation class, up to 89 participants from last year's total of 60, reflected that legislation. Institutions that are offering CHAMPS/Life Skills for the first time must attend the new-program orientation, which precedes the conference.

Attendees seeking ideas for their own programs could find them at the "Farmers' Market," an area at the conference set aside to display literature, posters and videotapes from the NCAA, participating institutions and other relevant organizations.

Participants also had the chance to bond with other life skills coordinators in small groups that were cleverly named after garden produce. The Creative Carrots, the Articulate Avocados, the Trusting Tomatoes and the Optimistic Onions were among the teams that provided an opportunity for coordinators to exchange ideas, network and process each day's activities in an interactive way.

"A general theme of this year's conference was that, in order for any of our programs to grow, we have to change the environment we're providing," Hendricks said. "We're still having problems with eating disorders in intercollegiate athletics, for example. New programs may not be the answer. Instead, maybe we need to be doing new things to help change the environment in which eating disorders flourish."

Hendricks said changing the environment could involve steps like improving communication between coaches and athletics administrators, establishing relationships between the athletics department and campus student life offices, developing policies to deal with issues and developing student-athletes -- particularly members of campus student-athlete advisory committees -- to serve in leadership roles and as peer mentors.

"In terms of this conference, we've been deliberate in having a different tone," Hendricks said. "We can have all the eating disorder programs in the world, but if coaches are still weighing student-athletes and people in our athletics departments are still using language that degrades and embarrasses student-athletes, we're not all on the same page. And if we're not all on the same page, then we're undermining our efforts to improve the welfare of student-athletes."

Plantings that will last

NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey addressed the conference attendees and noted that the growth of the conference reflected the increased attention the Association had focused on student-athlete welfare.

"The growth of this program has been phenomenal," he said, noting that four tables were enough to seat all of the participants in 1994, CHAMPS/Life Skills' inaugural year.

"I'm often asked, 'What will be your legacy at the NCAA?'" Dempsey said, noting that those asking had offered up such accomplishments as the move to Indianapolis, the signing of the CBS contract or the governance restructuring and increased presidential involvement in the Association.

"I hope people remember that during my time at the Association we refocused on our educational mission. And there's nothing that we're doing that emphasizes refocusing on the educational mission like the CHAMPS/Life Skills program does."

Dempsey pointed to the creation of the NCAA's education services department, the inception of the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (which now exists for all three divisions) and the creation of the NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference.

"I hope that I will be remembered for that educational focus and for trying to bring back the balance between academics and athletics," he said. "And programs like the ones you (life skills coordinators) are running on your campuses are also responsible for advancing that mission."

Dempsey pointed to four priorities established in October 1999 by the NCAA Executive Committee and noted that the CHAMPS/Life Skills program was committed to all four:

Preparing the student-athlete for leadership in a dynamic and diverse society.

Reinforcing the values of fairness and integrity in intercollegiate athletics.

Enhancing the collegiate experience of young men and women.

Highlighting the capacity of college sports to foster life-long learning and health.

Dempsey also noted that the new CBS contract would provide funds directed to address those priorities.

"More than $40 million a year will be set aside for student-athlete initiatives from the new contract," he said. "That's putting your money where your mouth is."

Growing a warrior

Mills, Olympic gold medalist at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, and now a motivational speaker, spoke to the conference participants about developing themselves as leaders and about developing student-athletes as leaders.

A Native-American student-athlete at the University of Kansas who had never won a major race, Mills was the surprise winner of the 10,000-meter run in Tokyo and later became the subject of the 1984 motion picture "Running Brave," which starred Robby Benson.

Mills spoke of the lessons he has taken away from sport, the dreams he had as a young orphan and the prejudice he has faced as a Lakota.

"I didn't take a gold medal away from sport," he said. "After travelling to 83 different countries throughout my career, what I took from sport is a sense of unity through diversity. Unity through diversity is not only the theme of the Olympic Games but also the future of the world."

Mills, who knew when he was only nine years old that he wanted to be an Olympian, also shared what his father had told him about sport, which Mills believes applies particularly to life skills coordinators on campus.

"He said, 'Sport to teach life values is sacred. Sport just for sport is meaningless,' " Mills said.

Mills also told how perceptions become prejudice.

"The greatest challenge we face in a growing world is not changing technologies. It is perceptions," he said. Mills told of being excluded from fraternities in college, being asked to step out of photographs of all-American winners and how, just a few years ago, he was spoken of in Barcelona, Spain, by a reporter who claimed to know "what had happened to that Indian guy."

Mills said, "And I overheard him say, and my teenage daughter overheard him say, 'I know what happened to him, that Indian guy. He's just like all the rest of them. He might have won a race, but like all Indian people, he's an alcoholic. All of them are.' "

Mills challenged the participants to fight perceptions and to serve as positive role models for student-athletes.

Mills also spoke of one of his role models and how that role model had been warped by modern society.

"One of my all-time role models is a war chief among our people, Chief Crazy Horse," he said. "Now Americans are brewing beer called Crazy Horse. I am offended by that, but because I am only one percent of the population as a Native American, no one should care?"

Mills went on to say that he was offended by Native American mascots and found no honor in their use.

"I am a Lakota warrior. I am not and I never will be a sports team's mascot," he said.

Mills was honored with a standing ovation, and the conference attendees had more food for thought as they cultivated their gardens -- both at the conference and as they headed back to their campuses to implement what they had learned.