The NCAA's diversity-training tree is growing new branches.

The Association's training/development program aimed at increasing diversity awareness in college athletics is targeting yet another new audience this spring, as training sessions will be offered to a coaches association for the first time.

The March 28 session during the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) annual convention in conjunction with the Women's Final Four could break new ground with a constituency that is at ground zero when it comes to influencing behavior of young people.

"Coaches are educators and mentors, the figureheads and pillars of their communities and on their campuses," said WBCA Chief Operating Officer Beth Bass. "They touch a lot of lives. They are in an ideal position to start bridging this gap and making sure diversity is a major initiative."

Diversity training has been a major initiative within the NCAA for several years. The program was developed several years ago and has since been expanded for conference groups, governance entities and other athletics administrators. Sessions have been held at conference meetings, committee meetings and at the NCAA Convention. In addition, a train-the-trainer component was introduced that has allowed more people to deliver the diversity message.

One of those who went through the train-the-trainer component was Betty Jaynes, who had held the WBCA's top post since founding the organization in 1981 until her retirement last year. She and her successor, Bass, decided the training was a natural fit with WBCA members -- and with the WBCA's statement of equal employment opportunity, which encourages athletics directors to operate free of discriminatory practices in all matters relating to recruiting, hiring, training, compensation, benefits and advancements, among other areas.

Bass said that same level of sensitivity and understanding that is asked of athletics directors in their relationship with coaches also should be asked of coaches in their relationship with student-athletes.

The diversity training sessions do focus on relationships among people from all backgrounds. The curriculum during the day-long program also points out that diversity is more than just race and gender. The latter realization, according to many who have gone through the training, is perhaps the most enlightening.

"It's about people from different backgrounds working together toward a common goal."

Thus the importance of training sessions for coaches, Williams said, a group typically tied to some of the most diverse clients around -- student-athletes. In fact, because of that diversity, Williams said there is a tendency to think coaches don't need diversity training because they live it every day.

"But managing diversity is the other half of the equation," Williams said. "While college sports -- basketball in particular -- tend to be more diverse than some other professions, coaches need to know how to manage the cultural spectrum that comes with the territory."

"Why coaches?" Bass said. "It's more like, 'Why not coaches?' That relationship between a coach and a student-athlete is what's important. Our tagline is 'Building Champions One Team at a Time,' that's what coaches do best.

"People always think diversity is race and gender. You'd think diversity would be more natural in sports, but prejudices can take on different forms. Our coaches are the perfect people to lead this initiative."

The WBCA session will be facilitated by Linda Cooper Kee of LGC and Associates. The agenda features exercises aimed at explaining why diversity is important, building an environment that fosters teamwork, examining personal and organizational culture differences, understanding the dangers of stereotyping, and developing and implementing diversity initiatives.

Spots still are available for the session. Interested coaches should contact the NCAA's Williams at 317/917-6222 or via e-mail at jawilliams@ncaa.org.

Other diversity training sessions are scheduled for May 1-2 in Washington, D.C., and May 22-23 in La Jolla, California, in conjunction with Regional Rules Compliance Seminars, and July 30-31 in Indianapolis. The latter also features a train-the-trainer session. Registration and other information about those sessions can be found online at www.ncaa.org.

But many eyes will be on the coaches session to see if that branch of the diversity tree keeps growing.

"Diversity awareness is catching on," Williams said. "And the training sessions are part of the reason why. We're hoping that other coaches associations choose to do what the WBCA is doing and that the message can be spread even further."