Houghton College's Skip Lord Special Guest at WBCA National Convention & BIG EAST Conference Annual Meeting

Lord Talks Champions of Character

Posted on 06.05.06

- Staci Schottman, NAIA

Houghton College Athletics Director and Women’s Basketball Head Coach H. Skip Lord is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to sports, student-athletes and character development. Houghton College has been recognized as a Champions of Character Institution during each of the program’s five years and was selected as one of the charter schools to serve as a Champions of Character Program Center. Lord is committed to intentionally teaching character and shares the core values, messages and resources of the Champions of Character program with local students, coaches, parents, officials and school and youth league administrators to promote meaningful change in the culture of sport in the local community. Lord has worked to include civic and business leaders in Champions of Character Program Center activities.

Lord recently spoke at the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) National Convention in conjunction with the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Final Four and based the presentation on the NAIA’s Champions of Character program and how the message and model can be adjusted to any of the following audiences: administrators, coaches, players, fans or officials.

Lord took a closer look at officiating from the perspective of each stakeholder and examined the assumptions on which sport in our society is built and proposed ways of preventing, addressing and even correcting the problems that threaten to destroy the game today.

Attending the WBCA National Convention was Barbara Jacobs, Assistant Commissioner/Women’s Basketball Officiating for the BIG EAST Conference. Jacobs invited Lord to attend the BIG EAST Conference Annual Meeting held in Ponte Vedre, Florida to do a Champions of Character presentation for the Women’s Basketball Coaches. Lord’s presentation focused on ways to change the culture of sport that will in turn harvest positive relationships between all parties involved in athletic competition.

“The points made were about losing the integrity of our game because coaches, fans and administrators are being allowed to bash officials with no consequences,” said Jacobs. “It was appealing to the coaches of women’s basketball in the BIG EAST Conference to change their demeanor on the court (as it relates to officials) and to try to encourage young former players to get involved in officiating as a way to stay involved in the game because without them, the game will suffer.”

Jacobs feels the Champions of Character message and training will help foster a positive relationship with officials and hopefully draw interest in the profession.

“If the administrators, coaches and fans hear it and do something about it, the very tough job of officiating women’s basketball will become something that is a viable opportunity for young ex-players and coaches to get involved in,” said Jacobs. “It has become extremely tough to be an official in any sport because of the public attitude about officials. That attitude needs to change.”

Skip Lord is a certified Champions of Character instructor and continues to seek new ways to share the character values on campus and in neighboring communities. To learn more about Houghton College click here.

Houghton, a Christian college of 1,300 students in Western New York, is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the American Mideast Conference. Houghton has been named a Champions of Character Institution for the past three years for its active involvement in the NAIA’s Champions of Character Initiative, a program that aims to teach the character values of respect, integrity, responsibility, servant leadership, and sportsmanship through athletics. Houghton coaches and student-athletes are working directly with youth organizations, schools, and civic groups to educate, promote and incorporate these values within the sporting or daily activities of youth and adults.