Holy Names University, in collaboration with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Champions of Character program, has targeted our students 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 Champions of Character program helps students build character through sport with the values of respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship. These values help student-athletes make good choices in all aspects of life

The NAIA Champions of Character program addresses character issues more comprehensively than any other national program for youth. The program currently reaches hundreds of thousands of students on nearly 300 college and university campuses in North America and extends into their surrounding communities.

The Champions of Character program is an educational outreach initiative which emphasizes the tenets of character and integrity, not only for NAIA college students, but for younger students, coaches and parents in our communities.

Coaches, parents, administrators and community partners all have a role in developing students of character. The NAIA Champions of Character program brings them training, guidelines and behavior models to create positive environments that promote personal growth and fun sport activity.

Students discover how character training benefits academic and athletic achievement. Coaches learn how Champions of Character can impact your team's attitude and performance. Parents better understand their role and how it benefits each student. Administrators learn how the program strengthens relationships with the community. Community and business partners benefit from aligning their organization with positive youth programs at Holy Names University.

Holy Names' students strive to fulfill the mission of the university through participation in community service projects and service in social justice. Our student-athletes volunteer for such projects as Habitat for Humanity, Bay Area shoreline clean-ups, Susan G. Komen Walk/Run for Breast Cancer, food drive for the Alameda County Food Bank.

HNU continues to sponsor student-athletes for a 5th year of progress towards a degree through an application process into HNU's Champions of Character Fellowship. They're participation and commitment to the core character values and involvement in social justice or community service projects are given consideration during approval of the application process.

To review the application for the Holy Names University Champions of Character Fellowship, please click here.