Happy New Year!
Today we flip the calendar over to 2015 and officially the GPAC enters its final months of our 15th year of existence. A dream of a few back in the late 1990’s has become a strong reality and a league that has celebrated much since 2000 and is as strong today as it was in Y2K.
Originally called “America’s Small College Super Conference”, that moniker was dropped because some didn’t like the word “small” as a descriptor of the GPAC. However, it has been that “smallness” that has made us big as I see it. For you see, we are small, when you look at the big schools of the world our schools are as big as some sections of a freshman English class at a major university. We are “small” and that’s ok. We are small enough to know everyone and to have relationships that extend well beyond the court, field, and track. If that’s “small” I will take it any day.
Along with being small schools, average size of our eleven
GPAC schools is just over 1,000 students (1,071 to be exact, with the largest
at 1,578 and the smallest at 520 FT students), we also remain committed to our
Faith based requirement to be a member.
Not that this hasn’t been debated over the years, but it remains and I
believe it’s something that keeps our group grounded and stronger because of
it. That faith has been evident among our schools who lift each other up in times of need. We have had some tragic events (deaths, accidents, etc…) in our 15 years and every time I am encouraged to hear that it’s the fellow members of the GPAC that reach out to each other to lend support and encouragement. Pretty awesome stuff from a family of conference schools.
There are 5,314 student-athletes in the GPAC (2013-14 count) and that does not count dual sport student-athletes. If you are doing the math that means that of the total FT students at GPAC schools 48% are involved in intercollegiate athletics in some way shape or form. Almost half. Amazing when you think about it.
When you take the 5,314 student-athletes from 2013-14 and
note that 550 were NAIA Scholar-Athletes, again your eyes have to pop a little
bit. The fact is only juniors and
seniors can be scholar-athletes (so your 5,314 becomes 2,657 using simple math
by dividing the total in half) and now you are looking at over 20% of our
junior and senior student-athletes having over a 3.5 GPA. Pretty awesome. It is because of this we now use the moniker
of “Academic and Athletic Excellence Since 2000!”. Over the last 15 years the GPAC has also racked up 20 NAIA National Team Championships. That number is headlined by 11 NAIA DII Women's Basketball titles. The GPAC has had a team play in seven NAIA football championship games (winning three). GPAC teams have played in four NAIA DII Men’s Basketball title games (winning two), and has the league has a pair of Outdoor Track Titles in the trophy case as well and one in wresting. In 2001 we had a double basketball winner with Northwestern’s women and men winning gold (a rare feat in college athletics) and in 2010 the Hastings men’s soccer team garnered the gold star, while their women played in the final placing second. Pretty amazing resume to say the least for 15 years of existence. Not to mention the long list of individuals who have taken home first place at NAIA National Championships.
We do all of this while taking part in the NAIA’s Champions of Character program as a Five-Star Champions of Character Conference. A prominent person once told me, you can’t teach character in college they either have it or they don’t. I disagree. I think you can and I have seen it time and time again. Do we have character slip ups? Absolutely. Do our coaches get technical fouls? Yes. Do we get red cards or have ejections. Again yes. But in almost all those cases I typically hear later that they feel bad about what has happened and have learned from the experience going forward. That’s character development and it’s alive and well in the GPAC. When you compete in sport, emotions are tested and human nature can take over. It’s what we do with those moments that define character development. It’s a process and we are always learning.
15 years. That’s a decent amount of time, but really not that long. When I was 15 I thought I knew quite a bit. Now I am 40 and realized I didn’t know that much. I am sure in a few years we will look back at 15 years of the GPAC and say “that was just a small period of time” but for now, its our history and one that I am very proud of.
Many times I get the outward “that-a-boy” and “great job” for what the GPAC is doing. I am only a small part of what this league has done. Am I happy to be at the helm? You bet. Is the best yet to come? No doubt about it! This league is strong because of our current student-athletes, alumni student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and above all our schools and what God is doing through each and every one of them in Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota.
New Years are about reflections and I think that is good to do. But New Years are also about looking forward and planning for what is coming next. 2015 is going to be an exciting year in the GPAC. The most notable item is we are expanding on August 1 with the addition of College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska. Our 12th member will only make this conference stronger. They are excited and so are we to get started.
In the meantime, we will wrap up this 15th year of the GPAC and give thanks for what has happened and look forward to what is yet to come.
In the weeks to come I hope to share more of my “Reflections from the GPAC Bleachers” and hopefully have others contribute to this blog. There are many great stories out there and this blog is a great avenue to spread the word.
Happy New Year from the GPAC!
Corey Westra
GPAC Commissioner
Learn more about Corey Westra HERE
To learn more:
@gpacsports on Twitter
www.gpacsports.com
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