History & Philosophy

        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.