WINONA LAKE – Grace College will play host to a very special and unique event on Tuesday, March 11.

The Northern Lakes Conference Sportsmanship Summit, the brainchild of Grace College Athletic Director Chad Briscoe, will bring an outstanding group of student athletes and athletic directors from the eight league schools to the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center.

The Summit will include guest speakers such as Briscoe, Sandy Searcy, IHSAA Assistant Commissioner and Jim Swanson, Grace College VP of Student and Academic Services. The day will also involve the athletes in group projects and will also feature a College Student Athlete Panel discussion.

The list of athletic directors scheduled to attend include Roy Benge (Plymouth), Dave Anson (Warsaw), Dave Preheim (Concord), Jacquie Rost (Elkhart Memorial), Larry Kissinger (Goshen), Steve Wiktorowski (Wawasee), Dave Harms (Northridge) and Norm Sellers (NorthWood). Assistant athletic directors who plan to attend include John Scott (Plymouth), Phyllis Tubbs (Elkhart Memorial), Anne Griffith (Northridge) and Rob Miller (Concord).

The list of athletes will include 10 from each NLC member school, including both male and female athletes

The NLC Sportsmanship Summit was created to educate individual student athletes on the importance of building character through the high school athletic experience while demonstrating positive sportsmanship both on and off the field of competition.  It is also designed to grow the student athlete through lessons in team building and positive leadership.  The fundamental goal is to enhance the Northern Lakes Conference and to have the conference recognized not only for it’s accomplishments during athletic competition, but to be recognized as a leader off the field through positive sportsmanship and character development.

Benefits of the NLC Sportsmanship Summit:

• Teach student/athlete about positive sportsmanship and leadership, not only for competition but for life in general.
• Educate student athletes on the importance of being a champion of character.
• Way to create conference pride and to be recognized as a leader in off the field activities.
• Student athletes get to interact with one another in a less stressful environment in order to work together to problem solve and to positively challenge one another.
• Allows opportunities for student athletes to branch out from own school and learn other ways to be positive role models in order to positively lead others.
• Encourages positive behaviors and public speaking as student athletes must interact with other schools, as well as represent their school in a positive manner.
• Student athletes who are selected will each receive a T Shirt representing the conference and summit as a level of accomplishment for being chosen to represent their school.
• Student athletes will see being chosen as an honor, and once they receive their T Shirts, other athletes will hopefully strive to be chosen for the next year’s summit should it continue.  That alone will help create positive behaviors that will influence others at the schools in the conference.
• Allowing the students to learn the importance of my actions that affect everyone associated with my school and I am to lead in all aspects of being a student athlete at my school.