Division III commissioners, Purdue promote sportsmanship

 In a clear sign that the push for sportsmanship is an Association-wide priority, both the Division III Commissioners Association and Purdue University have launched initiatives to boost efforts in this area.

The Division III Commissioners Association has created a Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee to focus specifically on Division III issues. As part of the goals for the newly created committee, a portion of the commissioners association's Web site will be dedicated to sportsmanship and to sports ethics policies and programming. The Web site will be available for other member institutions and conferences to use as a resource in creating their own programs and policies.

Schools and conferences are invited to share their policies and programs, including relevant NCAA grant programs and codes of conduct. Unique crowd-control statements aside from those provided by the NCAA, and coach and student-athlete educational programs or other relevant material also are welcome.

Content may be sent to Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Commis-sioner Donna Ledwin, vice-president of the Division III Commissioners Association and a member of the Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee, at ledwin@amcconf.org. Submissions should include the name of the institution and contact information in the document. Although an initial deadline of April 15 has been set for submitting material, the Web site will be continuously updated as new policies and programs are created.

Even as the Division III Commissioners Association focuses on policy and programming, student-athletes at Purdue are taking the message of sportsmanship directly to youth in local schools. As part of the Boilermaker Building Blocks campaign, student-athletes have been visiting middle schools and speaking about the importance of sportsmanship and good behavior.

At the heart of the campaign is a poster featuring 16 Purdue student-athletes along with their testimonials and insights on principles such as integrity, accountability, sacrifice, tolerance and character at Purdue.

The idea for the campaign grew in part from a desire to counteract the recent stream of negative media attention to brawling incidents in the NBA and at football games. The school plans to visit all the middle schools in the surrounding county.

NATA statements address steroids, staph

The National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) expressed its concern over the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances in sports in a recently issued official statement.

The group, which numbers 30,000 members, said it "supports any and all secondary school, collegiate conference, professional or amateur sports league, international committee or governmental regulations or bans on steroids and other controlled substances not prescribed by a physician for therapeutic purposes." The NATA, which is especially concerned with steroid use by young athletes, also supports more severe penalties for individuals who violate established regulations or bans.

"One of NATA's concerns is the health and safety of all athletes, which we believe are compromised by the use of such substances. Due to health risks associated with steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, NATA will never justify their use to improve athletic performance," said NATA President Chuck Kimmel.

The organization also issued an official statement on community-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus (CA-MRSA) infection. In the statement, the organization recommended all health-care personnel as well as physically active adults and children take precautions and contact their physician if suspicious skin infections appear.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, staphylococcus aureus, or staph, are bacteria carried on the skin or in the nose of 25 to 35 percent of healthy people. While MRSA infections generally develop in hospitalized patients, there has been an increase in infections outside of health-care facilities affecting athletes and the physically active.

Staph or MRSA infections develop from person-to-person contact, shared towels, soaps, improperly cleaned whirlpools and sports equipment, according to University of Georgia head athletic trainer Ron Courson. The infections initially may appear as pimples, pustules and boils and may be red, swollen, painful and/or have drainage. They also may be associated with existing turf burns or abrasions. Without proper care, more serious infections may lead to pneumonia, bloodstream infections or surgical wound infections.

To view the NATA official statement on steroids, visit www.nata.org/publicinformation/docs/steriodstatement.pdf. To view the statement on MRSA, go to www. nata.
org/publicinformation/position.htm.

--Compiled by Leilana McKindra

Number crunching

Looking back

 20 years ago

Here's what was making NCAA news in April 1985:

* The NCAA Presidents Commission backs eight proposals for what Commission Chair John Ryan calls "one of the most important sessions in the history of intercollegiate athletics." The Commission's proposals will be voted on during the special NCAA Convention in June. Among the measures are those that require presidential oversight of athletics budgets; require institutions to conduct self-studies of athletics programs at least once every five years; and establish distinctions between "major" and "secondary" violations of NCAA rules.

* Villanova University surprises heavily favored Georgetown University, 66-64, in the championship game of the Men's Final Four. The Wildcats set a tournament record by connecting on 22 of 28 field-goal attempts. Villanova also was 22-of-27 from the free-throw line. "Look at those percentages," Georgetown coach John Thompson says afterward. "Villanova won the ball game fairly. We have no complaints." In the women's championship game, Old Dominion University trails at the half but rallies to beat the University of Georgia, 70-65. The Lady Monarchs' Tracy Claxton scored 17 points and grabbed 20 rebounds.

* The NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee adopts a 45-second shot clock for use in the 1985-86 season. Secretary-Rules Editor Edward S. Steitz says, "The committee felt there was a strong mandate from the coaches and from the 25 conferences that researched the clock through experimentation to implement the clock. We adopted precisely what had been researched." Almost 70 percent of coaches responding to a survey favored the shot clock. The committee also authorizes experimentation with a three-point shot for 1985-86. News of the shot clock's adoption prompts this comment from an AP sportswriter: "Villanova's gallant overachievers sprang one swell April Fool's joke on powerful Georgetown the other night, but it was nothing compared to the knee-slapper college basketball's rules committee has pulled on the entire sport. On the day after one of the greatest upsets in the game's history, the rules-makers decided to move against future underdogs with legislation that will make Villanova-type stunners more difficult to achieve."

* Two Tulane University students, one a member of the men's basketball team, plead guilty in connection with the school's point-shaving investigation.