Portland Middle School Training

CNC is partnering with the Portland Parks and Recreation service to train middle-school youth throughout the 2009 basketball season. Trainings will focus on various components, ranging from culture and race to sportsmanship and team building. The first round of trainings was completed this past winter and CNC is preparing for the next round of exciting trainings.

Youth Sports Project (YSP)

CNC is working with the YMCA and Kidsports to provide a sports and conflict training for youth coaches, fans and referees. YSP represents a first step towards making a substantial impact in the ways young children, parents, coaches, referees, and fans may engage in less conflictual competition. Additionally, YSP brings together public, private, and non-profit groups to reduce inappropriate behavior by parents and other spectators at youth sports events. Curriculum design is underway and CNC plans to implement the Project in winter 2009.

Workshops & Symposia

We will continue to organize workshops and symposia aimed at addressing some of the more difficult conflicts in athletics, as well as the positive aspects of competition. These will be resources to athletes, coaches, parents, referees, and others involved in the hosting of and participating in athletic contests. Throughout the 2009-2010 school year, CNC will introduce Eugene and Springfield to a nationally recognized speaker on Sports and Society. Watch this page for updates on upcoming events!

Coaches' Trainings

After two very successful trainings for collegiate coaches, CNC is currently organizing future trainings that will assist coaching staff in exploring conflict resolution as an organization, but also continue to build dispute resolution skills as individual team leaders.

Athletic Leadership Camps

CNC will administer a full day of conflict and dispute resolution training with student-athletes that will thoroughly explore the role athletes have in reducing destructive conflict in sport. As part of a weekend seminar about leadership and personal growth, CNC will delve into skill-building exercises to empower athletes to identify, prevent, and resolve conflicts in order to truly manifest their potential as teammates and society members.

Sport Development & Peace, 2009-2010 school year

A masters-level course, "Peace Through Sports," will be offered by the University of Oregon ADR Masters Program. This class will explore the positive effects of sport throughout the world.

Past Events

NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills Conference

CNC joined with our partner, the O Heroes Program, to present at the NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills Continuing Education Conference this February. The presentation covered the partnership's various activities and trainings.

PAC-10 Spring S.A.A.C. Conference

CNC delivered a diversity training to 40 of the PAC-10's top student-athlete leaders. This three-hour interactive workshop explored the connection between diversity, culture and conflict in sports.

Oregon Athletic Directors' Association (OADA)

CNC conducted a workshop in April 2009 at the annual OADA conference. Participants were introduced to the program, received conflict resolution training, and obtained resources to bring back to their institutions across the state.

Mediating Sports Conflict Courses, Spring '08 and Winter '09

These courses linked University of Oregon undergraduates, both athletes and non-athletes, together in a skills-based course introducing them to the process and practice of conflict and dispute resolution. Students developed conflict and dispute resolution skills for all situations involving conflict, with a particular focus on conflict situations emanating from competition in athletics. Students also examined their role in sports-related conflict, its resolution, and its prevention. Finally, the classes explored opportunities for newly trained students to participate in community-based discussions and trainings promoting conflict resolution skills.

Shifting Sports Culture: Competition Not Conflict, October 20-21, 2008

• Watch video footage of this event

Don McPherson
Activist, Educator, Feminist, College Football Hall of Fame

For more than 20 years, Don McPherson has used the power and appeal of sport to address complex social issues. He has created innovative programs, supported community service providers and has provided educational seminars and lectures throughout North America.

As an athlete, McPherson was a consensus All-America quarterback at Syracuse University and is a veteran of the NFL and Canadian Football League. As captain of the undefeated 1987 Syracuse football team, McPherson set 22 school records, led the nation in passing and won more than 18 national "player of the year" awards, including the Maxwell Award as the nation's best player, the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award and the inaugural Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. He was second in the Heisman Trophy voting. In 2008 McPherson was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

In his service to the community, which spans three decades, McPherson has delivered school and community based programs addressing issues such as drunk driving, alcohol and substance abuse, bullying, youth leadership and mentoring. Upon retiring from pro football in 1994, he joined Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society as national director of Athletes in Service to America, an Americorps funded program. In 2002 he founded the Sports Leadership Institute at Adelphi University, for which he served as executive director until 2007.

Peace One Day Football Match (Presented by MercyCorps)

On September 21st, a football (soccer) match in Portland, Oregon to celebrated cooperation, unity and the power of soccer to unite people and reduce destructive conflict through sport. Peace One Day organized matches all over the world, whether in major stadiums, local pitches, in the streets, on the beach, etc., with teams made up of a mix of players from different cultures, communities, schools or neighborhoods, families.

Presented by MercyCorps, on September 21st, there will be a football (soccer) match in Portland, Oregon to celebrate cooperation, unity and the power of soccer to unite people and reduce destructive conflict through sport. Peace One Day is organizing matches all over the world, whether in major stadiums, local pitches, in the streets, on the beach, etc., with teams made up of a mix of players from different cultures, communities, schools or neighborhoods, families.
For more information, go to: http://www.peaceoneday.org/football.aspx.

Olympic Trial Youth Trainings

CNC held two trainings in conflict resolution skills during the Olympic Trials at the Youth Personal Best: Youth Leadership & Track Camp. These trainings focused on empowering young athletes by introducing them to the process and practice of conflict and dispute resolution. Participants learned about the sources of conflict and individual responses to conflict in competitive athletic situations and learned necessary skills for resolving and preventing conflicts in sport and in life.

Eugene Workshop, July 2007

Participants included U of O athletes, Northwest Christian College Athletic Director and coaches, local high school coaches, and representatives from the YMCA, Eugene Swim and Tennis Club, UO Athletic Advising, UO Club Sports, and the City of Eugene Recreation Services, among others. Workshop participants examined the issue of conflict emanating from sport and explored potential solutions. Discussion also included positive aspects of sport and the need for a project to address the positive and negative aspects of competition in sport.

Portland Workshop, August 2007

Participants included, inter alia, the head of the Oregon Referees Association, collegiate coaches, elected officials, the Executive Director of the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA), and representatives from Nike, Mercy Corps, and various youth sports organizations. Similar to the Eugene workshop, participants examined numerous problems and causes of conflict in competitive athletic situations. In addition, they highlighted the immense benefit that sport has on those who participate, but indicated the need to minimize problematic conflicts that can also arise. Participants agreed that there was a critical need for work in this area.