Landmark Holds Successful Sportsmanship Symposiusm

MADISON, N.J. - The Landmark Conference brought together a large group of constituents including all of the conference's head coaches for its fourth Symposium with a focus on sportsmanship this past week.

The event took place in Hershey, Pa. on May 31st with more than 100 attendees mad e up of athletics directors, head coaches, head athletics trainers, faculty athletics representatives, and sports information directors. The program was broken into two sessions with nationally-renowned sportsmanship speaker and Empire 8 Athletics Conference Commissioner Chuck Mitrano providing a 90-minute presentation in the morning, followed by an afternoon meeting of each constituency group.

The event began with Susquehanna University President L. Jay Lemons recognizing the outgoing conference staff in Landmark Commissioner John Reeves and Assistant Commissioner Joel Cookson.

Commissioner Mitrano followed with his sportsmanship presentation which focused on the need for accountability from coaches and administrators in establishing a culture of sportsmanship within athletics departments and the conference. Mitrano e 100 Most Influential Sports Educator's in America by the Institute for International Sport (IIS). This list  includes Pat Summit, John Wooden, Dr. Myles Brand, Joe Paterno, Dr. Richard Lapchik, Phil Jackson, Cal Ripiken Jr., and Donna Lopiano. He was also a founding Member of the NCAA's "Respect" Sportsmanship Campaign.

The afternoon meetings saw each constituency group continue to address the sportsmanship topic as a committee, and then address commitee-specific matters such as revising codes of conduct and other items. The meeting was the first face-to-face gathering of all the Landmark constituency groups since prior to the start of conference competition in 2007.

This meeting will marked the fourth Landmark Symposium. The first three took place in Washington, D.C. and addressed topics of collaboration, student-athlete wellfare, and branding and identity initiatives. The events are funded through the NCAA Division III Strategic Initiative Grant.