April Champion of Character

Respect- Responsibility- Integrity- Servant Leadership- Sportsmanship

“In this time when the sports pages are filled with stories about fighting spectators, over-zealous parents, wife abusing, drug impacted, self entitled athletes and mercenary coaches who chase the highest contract, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is piloting a program to define who we really are, focus on character and reclaiming the true spirit of the game. The NAIA is looking for athletes who are a combination of both competence and character.”

By Bruce Brown, NAIA Special Presenter

The Dana College Viking Leadership Council and Sports Information Department would like to announce the Champion of Character for the month of January.

 Dana College Men’s and Women’s Track Teams

The Dana College Track teams were nominated by Coach Allen Friesen and Marc Bierbaum. 

They bonded together to show support for two of their teammates when their father died last week. A majority of the team decided to attend the memorial service rather than compete at the Doane relays. Some of them at a great cost to themselves, because it probably cost them getting in to conference. Those team members that could not go wore black ribbons on their uniforms to show their support.

Respect – Followed members of their team to their father’s funeral in Kansas.

Responsibility – Put family ahead of athletics.

Integrity – Supported two teammates who lost their father.

Servant Leadership – Eric Bane designed a black ribbon on their uniform for support.

Sportsmanship – A majority of the team attended the memorial service a instead of competing at a meet.  Some may have sacrificed a chance at qualifying for conference.

“I was very proud of the whole team on the kind of support they have showed threw this whole ordeal,” proudly stated Coach Friesen 

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Champions of Character program, launched in 2000, is designed to instill an understanding of character values in sport and provide practical tools for student-athletes, coaches and parents to use in modeling exemplary character traits. The program currently reaches hundreds of thousands of students on nearly 300 college and university campuses in North America and extends into their surrounding communities.

Previous Winners

Chelsey Williams -- January

Viking Track - April