Why is La Sierra changing its athletics programs from the NCAA to the 

NAIA? 

1. The NAIA allows the individual Institution to set the number of 

sports it sponsors.  La Sierra can determine how many sports it can 

afford to sponsor and still be successful.  The NCAA mandates 

schools of our size sponsor 12 sports, two more than we currently 

sponsor.  Our budget, and resources don't allow us to sponsor 10 

sports correctly, we couldn't sponsor 12. 

2. As an NAIA member we can schedule games that best fit our 

athletes' academic schedules.  We can schedule any schools we 

choose and we can determine how many games each sport should 

play.  As an NCAA DIII school we have to play other NCAA 

teams during certain confining periods of time.  This has led our 

teams to playing multiple games during dead weeks, finals and 

over vacations just to keep up with NCAA regulations. 

3. As a member of the NCAA DIII we were not going to be admitted 

to a conference.  As a member of the NAIA we can create our own 

conference with other NAIA schools in the area. 

4. As part of the NCAA we would not be Championship eligible for 4 

years.  As part of the NAIA we are Championship eligible after 1 

year. 

5. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), 

generally has a lower operating budget for its athletic programs.  

This will allow La Sierra to fund its' programs better. 

What sports will we sponsor next year? 

The Athletic Counsel in conjunction with the Athletic Department and 

Student Life have decided that Women's Volleyball, Men's Soccer, 

Men's and Women's Basketball, Softball and Baseball will be the six 

sports sponsored for the 2010-2011 school year. 

Why were those sports chosen? 

Through much discussion and debate the six sports were selected for 

various reasons including, but not limited to, budget concerns, 

matching our sports with the sports offered at the SDA Academies 

and projected interest. 

Will Scholarships now be offered to athletes? 

As part of the transition to NAIA, La Sierra has developed an Athletic 

Scholarship Task Force to determine the best way for the University 

to begin offering Athletic Aid. 

What other changes can we expect? 

1. Champions of Character initiative will be introduced, which is a 

comprehensive character training program with five core values:  

respect, integrity, responsibility, servant leadership, and 

sportsmanship.   

2. Recruitment of athletes will become an easier process, which will 

lead to filling our team rosters.   

3. Coaches can develop training programs for their teams in the off 

season.  

4. Athletics Department will now require study hall for its athletes.