The NCCAA was incorporated to
provide a Christian-based organization that functions uniquely as a
national and international agency for the promotion of outreach and
ministry and for the maintenance, enhancement and promotion of
intercollegiate athletic competition with a Christian perspective.
Established in 1966 in Canton,
Ohio, the NCCAA held its first men’s basketball tournament in Detroit,
Michigan in 1968. At the initial tournament, the NCCAA adopted a
constitution and voted to move the national headquarters to
Chattanooga, Tennessee upon the invitation of the Chamber of
Commerce. In 1989, the Board of Directors voted to move the National
Office to Marion, Indiana. As the NCCAA grew in membership and
national appeal, the Board of Directors examined the need for
relocation to a larger corporate community. In May 2000, the NCCAA
officially moved the National Office to Greenville, South Carolina.
In 1973, the NCCAA launched into
other sports, developing national competition in cross country, track
and field and men’s soccer. Bible colleges, which had competed well
against liberal arts colleges, submitted a plan to add a second
division. Division II basketball was developed in 1975 for the Bible
colleges (non-scholarship), along with national competition in
wrestling. Over the years, national championship competition in
several other sports began: women’s basketball, men’s and women’s
volleyball, softball, men’s golf, women’s soccer, men’s and women’s
tennis, baseball, football and indoor track and field.
The NCCAA game plan is to produce
true winners: a game plan that will carry an individual through his
or her entire life. The game plan is devised to draw out the
student-athlete’s greatest potential – body, mind and spirit.
This game plan is catching on
virtually all over the United States. Since its first tournament in
1968, the NCCAA has grown to encompass over 100 Christian colleges
nationwide, both liberal arts and Bible colleges. The participating
schools are dedicated not only to providing the best athletic
competition possible, but also to exemplifying Jesus Christ in all
they do.
The NCCAA believes:
·That athletics are a means
to an end, not an end in themselves.
·That the process is as
important as the performance.
·That the person
(student-athlete) is more important than the program
Athletic participation in a
Christian liberal arts or Bible college is a unique experience that
prepares Christian men and women for a life of meaningful work and
service. The athletic experience provides a dynamic growth process
for learning discipline, team work, leadership, and mutual respect
where the student-athlete and his/her preparation for life is more
important to the coaches and the athletic administration than win-loss
records and championships.