BATON ROUGE — LSU gymnast Lauren Companioni and track athlete Chris Jackson will represent the Tigers at the inaugural NCAA Regional Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Ga., this weekend.
Companioni is the president of the LSU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. The senior from Tampa, Fla., earned All-America honors as a freshman on the floor exercise and is a two-time Academic All-America selection.
A senior from Hoover, Ala., Jackson had five top 10 finishes in the 60-meter hurdles during the 2004 indoor track season and finished 12th at the SEC Indoor Championships.
More than 130 student-athletes, athletics administrators conference representatives and coaches representing NCAA Division I institutions in the southeastregion will meet, marking the first NCAA conference held specifically for Division I student-athletes. The conference is modeled after the NCAA Leadership Conference, which is held annually in the spring for more than 300 student-athletes in Divisions I, II and III.
The Division I conference was created at the recommendation of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). There are three SAAC groups representing Divisions I, II and III, that provide insight on the student-athlete experience at NCAA colleges and universities. The Committees also offer input on the rules, regulations, and policies that affect student-athletes’ lives on NCAA member institution campuses, and they are the “student voice” in the NCAA governance structure.
The Division I conference provides a forum for student-athletes to build partnerships, develop leadership skills, and discuss Division I issues that impact student-athletes. It also allows student-athletes the opportunity to discuss these issues with their peers, member institution athletics administrators and athletics conference administrators. Key issues that will be discussed in the break-out sessions include enhancing the student-athlete experience through involvement in the legislation process, and sportsmanship in intercollegiate athletics.
The role of the coaches and athletics administrators at the conference will be to offer their perspective on issues and create partnerships in order to help student-athletes create positive change at the campus, conference and national levels. Additionally, a break-out session will be held for coaches and athletics administrators to allow them an opportunity to discuss key issues.