Texas Wesleyan has received the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Champions of Character Five Star Institutions from the 2010-11 school year for a second time.

“The Champions of Character program is designed to promote fair play, sportsmanship, and community service,” Steven Trachier, athletic director, said. “It is quite an honor. This award can be attributed to the leadership of Kevin Millikan [director of new sport development], Coach Christy Clawson [champions of character liaison], and the entire coaching staff.”

The NAIA uses a scorecard to rate institutions throughout the year. All institutions scoring at least 60 points are named Five Star Institutions. The scorecard rewards points for: Character Training (including on campus and community outreach activities), Conduct in Competition (as measured by the number of ejections), Academic Focus (based on overall student-athlete GPA), Character Recognition (earned by nominations for national awards and Presidential participation in Champions of Character functions), and Character Promotion (displaying Champions of Character logos and banners).

The NAIA’s Champions of Character program 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 mission of the Champions of Character program is to change the culture of sports. The nonprofit organization seeks to replace the current cycle of cheating, trash talking, taunting, and out of control behaviors found in today’s sports culture with the five core values of integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship, and servant leadership.

For more information on Champions of Character please visit www.championsofcharacter.org.