2004 NAIA Women's Division II National Basketball Tournament

The NAIA - Providing Balanced Athletics Programs for 47,000 Student-Athletes NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS THE RIGHT GAME FOR LIFE. hroughout its history, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has provided strong leadership for T all aspects of intercollegiate sports. Since its introduction of intercollegiate championship basketball in 1937, the AIA has maintained the highest standards while administering first-rate athletics programs. Time and time again , the NAIA has stepped forward to address the important issues of the day - be it racial integration in the '40s and '50s or establishing the first women 's championship program in 1980. The NAIA has not been afraid to enact changes while others have watched and waited . In the past decade, presidents of the NAIA colleges and universities have assumed a position of rec::ponsible leadership. The NAIA's Council of Presidents, the organization 's primary governing body, is comprised of 35 college and university presidents from all regions of the United States. With its major emphasis on education and character development, it was natural for the NAIA to further strengthen academic eligibility requirements in the mid-'80s. All NAIA participating student-athletes must maintain a 2.0 grade-point– average (GPA) while accumulating credit hours for a declared academic degree. Unlike other associations, NAIA student-athlete academic eligibility is monitored on a term-by-term basis. The All-America Scholar-Athlete program, a long-standing NAIA tradition , recognizes junior and senior student– athletes with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale). During the '90s, the waves of change once again washed over the NAIA.The membership voted to institute affiliated conference and regional groupings and discontinue the use of district play as a means of qualification for national championships, marking the first time since the NAIA's creation that district competition would not be used. Since 1937, the NAIA has admin istered programs and championships in proper balance with the overall educational experience. In 2000, the NAIA reaffirmed its purpose to enhance the character-building aspects of sport. Through Champions of Character, the NAIA seeks to create an environment in which every studen -athlete, coach, official and spectator is committed to the true spirit of competition through five tenets: respect, integrity, responsibility, servant leadership and sportsmanship. This program will educate and create awareness of the positive character-building traits afforded by sports and return integrity to competition at the coll gIat and youth levels while impacting all of society , .. t OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE STUDE T-ATHLET • 47 .000 paruc1paung tud nt-athlete • Hundred of I tudents re ' ogmzed annuall II- men ·a holar- thlete . thou and mor honored on the onkren · , I•, el hampion hip opponunn1e at th ·ont r n · . ·110nal. regional. and nauonal le, •I • ~ champion hip 'n ompa mg 11 p )rt 1 Ba ·ball Ba •tball (D1 I II) Ba •tball (Dt I II) fll ' )Untr Lil) ountr l,oll I l>lltball l, >11 l 1•Id lndorn I 11 I 1 Id ) ' I I all 1mnun• n i D1 m n I l m• I mu I I ru • u ball TM