CHAMPS/Life Skills Program
Challenging Athletes' Minds for Personal Success
Mercy College's Life Skills Program, also known as positive play, is a comprehensive progression of workshops, lectures, community activities, and campus wide events that student-athletes can become involved in over the course of their collegiate careers. Our goal is to provide programming in conjunction with various departments and services at the College that will allow student-athletes to maximize their overall collegiate experience and to help them develop the necessary "life skills" to become responsible and productive citizens in the greater societal and world communities. As designed by the N.C.A.A., the CHAMPS/Life Skills program at Mercy College addresses five key areas: academic excellence, athletic excellence, personal development, career development, and community service.
The Commitment to Academic Excellence: This area focuses on enhancing the student-athlete's academic performance through training in such areas as study skills, communication skills, goal setting, and stress management.
The Commitment to Athletic Excellence: This commitment is dedicated to providing student-athletes with the best possible athletic experience while at Mercy. The department of athletics recognizes the importance of a wide variety of support programs such as nutrition counseling and strength training and is committed to providing you with the best possible programs.
The Commitment to Personal Development: Through Mercy's commitment to your personal development, the college seeks to help you develop the coping skills necessary to deal with a variety of challenges. This component covers such issues as social development, fundamental values, personal health, and fiscal responsibility.
The Commitment to Service: An important part of one's life is selfless service to the community, and this commitment provides student-athletes an opportunity to begin now to- ward a lifelong habit of volunteerism. While an athlete at Mercy College, you will have an opportunity to participate in team volunteer projects.
The Commitment to Career Development: This component is dedicated to helping the student-athlete identify career goals and possible careers, develop interview skills, and cultivate an effective career network.
The mission of the program is to reach each student-athlete based on his or her individual needs while concentrating on the overall development of a whole, well-rounded person. It is designed to help student-athletes realize higher academic achievement, a higher level of maturity, self-responsibility, and greater overall success. The program seeks to integrate campus student services, classes and programs with initiatives of the CHAMPS/Life skills Program.
