Initiated by the NCAA in 1994, CHAMPS class becomes a requirement and an essential element to success on and off the field for Pepperdine athletes in their collegiate career and beyond.
JANELLE STRAWSBURG
Staff Writer
Banned substances. Illegal contact with agents. Academic regulations. These are just a few of the barriers thrown into the path of the collegiate athlete on the road to success in the sports field.
However, lucky for Pepperdine athletes, Learning Specialist and Life Skills Coordinator Kim Rodriguez, who works with the Athletic Department, helps them navigate the tumultuous waters of high-profile athletics to emerge unscathed and eligible throughout their collegiate careers.
Rodriguez said she seeks to develop student athletes through the CHAMPS (Challenging Athletes’ Minds for Personal Success) class.
CHAMPS was started by the NCAA in 1994 to educate student-athletes on the unique demands placed on them as representatives of the NCAA and how to cope with those demands.
Rodriguez, who has been heading up the CHAMPS program for the past two years at Pepperdine, said the program is essential to the success of Pepperdine’s athletes, both on and off the field.
“It is very important to inform student athletes of the rules and expectations required of them because there is so much at stake,” she said. “What I hope is that students walk away with practical and tangible tools for their academic and athletic careers during their four-year journey at Pepperdine.”
Incoming freshman and transfer athletes are required to take the two-unit class upon entrance into the university. The program began at Pepperdine five years ago for athletes to take instead of the then required PE 199. Despite the recent dissolving of the PE requirement for students, athletes are still required to enroll in CHAMPS.
“The NCAA has a two page list of banned substances for athletes, such as high levels of caffeine, dropping below 12 units can make athletes ineligible for the semester, certain gear may or may not be allowed to wear in the summer, these are a few of the many academic expectations and rules for both Pepperdine and the NCAA,” Rodriguez said. “These are all issues athletes have to deal with, and without this program they are really left to their own to figure it out.”
More than 90 students are enrolled in this semester’s session of CHAMPS. All 90 meet together Wednesday morning before Convocation to hear from different specialists and unique topics. After, they separate into three smaller sections to discuss, on a more intimate level, hurdles facing student athletes.
Freshman track member Anna DeBord has already felt the impact CHAMPS could make on her success as an athlete.
“Our first assignment was to e-mail our professors about conflicting schedules if we were in season,” she said. “A lot of people would never think about initiating that with their professors, but by doing so it will really help us keep up academically.”
Besides instructing students about the pressures of academic and athletic life, CHAMPS also helps students relate and engage with their fellow athletes.
Junior swim team member Jaime Lyon enjoyed the new contacts CHAMPS brought into her life two years ago as a freshman, contacts she says she typically would have never had the chance to meet.
“CHAMPS is a great networking tool for bringing athletes together,” she said. “It helps us all realize how much we are looked at as athletes and how our actions represent the university and what it stands for, and hopefully by working as a team we can represent the athletics at Pepperdine in an honorable fashion.”
09-07-2006
