Atlantic Sun's new sportsmanship policy targets soccer

 The Atlantic Sun Conference is going on the offensive to strongly encourage good sportsmanship with a new conduct policy in soccer. The league, in response to an unanimous recommendation from its management committee and a directive agreed upon by its Presidents Council, established a plan aimed at changing the on-field behavior of participants and decreasing the frequency of unsportsmanlike incidents in the sport.

Beginning with 2005 conference play, any caution (yellow) or ejection (red) card issued for foul language, dissent or other unsportsmanlike acts will draw a conference warning issued to a team's head coach. A second incident will result in the head coach being ejected from that game as well as suspended from the next conference game.

To educate coaches, teams and staffs about the new policy and about the conference's emphasis on sportsmanship in all sports, sessions have been scheduled among university presidents, athletics administrators and student-athletes.

"Our presidents are adamant about the A-Sun making a positive impact on this issue," said Atlantic Sun Commissioner Bill Bibb. Our league prides itself on the reputation of our schools, our teams and our student-athletes. The goal is to conduct ourselves with the highest degree of sportsmanship, and we believe we can be leaders by setting an example on how to play the game."

Former volleyball athlete makes a run at arthritis

Former University of Missouri, Columbia, volleyball student-athlete Lisa Morris, a first-team all-Big 12 Conference selection in 2000, was used to being a force on the court.

After an unexpected, life-changing diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis in 2003 -- a disease that causes pain, swelling and possible joint deformity -- forced her to give up the sport, the former Tiger has rallied to raise money to find a cure.

Through Joints in Motion, a national program of runners that is affiliated with the National Arthritis Foundation, Morris is training to raise $8,400 as one of 10 members of the Kansas City/Western Missouri chapter competing in four marathons in Dublin, Ireland; Memphis; Honolulu; and Jacksonville, Florida.

Medical improvements over the past five years and a daily regimen of pills and weekly injections has helped Morris control the disease. However, early on, she admits there were days when getting out of bed was hard.

"I had days where I couldn't wash my hair or brush my teeth," said Morris, who is no longer able to play volleyball or basketball because of permanent damage to her elbow.

The love of being active kept Morris motivated to find other outlets, though. She initially was introduced into the world of running after redshirting just before her freshman season at Missouri because of surgery. After a year of rehabilitation, she started running and has continued the practice.

"If you had asked me a year ago if I would ever run a marathon, I would have told you that people wanting to run 26.2 miles are mentally unstable. The first time I heard about Joints in Motion, I knew it was something I had to do for two reasons: it is the best way I know to personally help find a cure for arthritis, and it is a way I can prove to myself that I am not going to let this disease control my life," Morris said.

-- Compiled by Leilana McKindra

Number crunching

Looking back

35 years ago

Here's what was making NCAA news in September 1970:

• Sixty-six major universities and colleges add an 11th game to their regular-season football schedules in 1970. Ten schools -- the eight members of the Ivy Group, Ohio State University and Bowling Green State University -- stick to a nine-game slate, and 42 schools opt to play 10 regular-season games. The 11-game option was approved at the 1970 Convention.

• NCAA swimmers win 19 titles at the 1970 World University Games in Turin, Italy. The men won 12 of 13 swimming events, while the women captured six of nine. The Americans also won a diving event. Southern California University's Andy Strenk wins three events, while Stanford University's John Ferris and Long Beach State University's Mitch Ivey win two apiece.

• Miami University (Ohio) beats Xavier University, and the University of Cincinnati overcomes the University of Dayton in major college football's first doubleheader at Cincinnati's new Riverfront Stadium September 19.

• The NCAA Executive Committee authorizes the purchase of 3.4 acres of land in Johnson County, Kansas and the drafting of plans for a new national office building to replace the current facility in Kansas City, Missouri.

• The Executive Committee also approves an increase in per diem for participants in the men's basketball championship from $17.50 to $25. The group, however, denies a request to increase the official traveling party from 18 to 20.