CHALLENGER AND NAIA - The True Athlete

No one has to look further than the front of the sports page to see problems in the sports world today - Murders, DUI's, drugs, stealing from teammates, abuse of spouse or girlfriend, etc. We see embarrassed college presidents standing in front of a national television audience explaining why coaches were fired for behavior that does not align itself with the educational mission of the school or with profession of coaching.
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) is not afraid to take a stand to be different - in fact we are proud to be different and to offer an alternative to the culture of sport as it now exists. We are real college athletes

Through the Champions of Character program, the three hundred plus institutions of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics represent and offer a pure vision of sport for the participants. An NAIA athlete chooses a school where they can receive the education they desire as well as an opportunity to compete in a sport they love for a few more years.
· College athletics at this level is not a year round job, we are still here as students first and simply for the love of the game.
· Classes, not practices, are the main focus of our day but we look forward to being at practice to renew special relationships.
· We lift, work, hustle, sweat and compete for championships just like athletes at every level. When we win, we rejoice humbly and when we lose, our tears are for real, but we continue on with grace and can rely on each other to be ready to go the next day.
· We play for the love of teammates and coaches. We do not practice next to a player who is going to "come out early in the draft" but rather one that is going graduate on time and become a nurse, public school teacher or future CEO. We do not share a locker room with an "NBA lottery pick", but instead with a person headed to an overseas mission trip.
· We do not expect an "endorsement deal" but rather we expect to endorse and lift up others as we visit elementary classes to read to primary students. Our hopes are not tied to signing a multi million-dollar contracts, but rather using our degree and education to build a future for our families and communities.
· We do not play in front of national television audiences, but rather we play in front of several hundred enthusiastically supportive friends made from community service projects our from History or Physics class. Our efforts are not rewarded by being on SportsCenter but rather by the faces of the local youngsters who come to see if we really do win and lose with character and integrity.
· In our spare time we are not "unapproachable celebrities" on campus but we play intramurals or help coach a youth team.
· The "disease of me" has not afflicted many of our programs, our schools attract "we first" people.
· We build our teams and student populations with young people from wheat and cotton farms, inner cities and foreign countries.
· Many of our coaches still teach a full load, drive the vans and wash the uniforms and wouldn't trade places with anyone. In this day when big name coaches are constantly battling over zealous boosters while chasing the next big contract, our athletic departments are made of the highest quality people who have been on the same campus for 30 or 40 years because they love the school, the life style and the mission. The most valued person at our games is the person who is the "volunteer" scorekeeper who is entering his/her 4th decade.
· Sometimes we play in front of 5000 sometimes in front of 50 but it does not change our preparation, effort or enjoyment. Those fans cheer for us because they know us, we represent them, we are not just names on the back of the uniform or in the program, but we are the people they sit with in the student union and eat with in the cafeteria.
· We do occasionally sign autographs, but we are more likely to sign graduate school applications or be in out collecting signatures for a local referendum.
· We play as hard as we possibly can, get back to campus late and then get up and go to class where we are nothing more than any other student.
· We see the bigger picture and will be sad when the day comes when we cannot practice but we look forward to using the education we have worked hard to achieve.
· We attend beautiful campuses from Washington to Florida, from California to New England, we proudly call ourselves "Hard Work U" in the Ozark mountains - we are small schools in small towns on the plains of Texas - we are colleges of 400 where our professors know us as people in the city where the major university has 35, 000 students. We are the only show in town in Clinton, Iowa.
· We are the people at the bottom of the box scores but at the front of the line serving hot meals to the elderly.
· We experience the shared joy of being part of something bigger than ourselves.
· We love our school, our coaches, our team(s) and the community we represent.

The NAIA - real college athletes.

Champions of Character core values

For more information on the Champions of Character initiative, contact the NAIA National Office at 913-791-0044 or www.championsofcharacter.org.