Macalester's Jeff Yamashita Participates in 2009 NCAA Student-Athlete Development Conference

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Macalester College's Jeff Yamashita (So., Honolulu, Hawaii/Iolani School) participated in the 2009 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Student-Athlete Development Conference on May 24 to 27 in Orlando, Florida at the Walt Disney World Coronado Spring Resort.

One of 700 student-athletes selected from the NCAA, Yamashita earned first team All-Heartland Division honors this year in helping Macalester place fourth in the men's Heartland Division standings.

In addition, he was a member of the Macalester men's varsity swimming & diving team as he recorded team best performances in the 100 butterly (55.62) and 400 IM (5:00.88) in helping the team place sixth at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC  Championship.

The NCAA Student-Athlete Development Conference provides attending student-athletes with a forum to openly discuss issues that may affect them on their campuses and in their communities while also providing them with the opportunity to enhance their leadership, communication, decision-making and problem-solving skills. It also promotes better communication among student-athletes, coaches, administrators, faculty and university stakeholders.

The conference consisted of daily sessions, exercises, speakers and activities designed to help student-athletes develop as individuals and contributing members of society.

Yamashita was grouped into a team of 25 students and spent the beginning of the conference participating in self-exploration and value assessments. Speakers covered topics on financial management, time management and sports psychology.

Institutions can nominate four student-athletes, two of each gender, and two must be international students or minorities.

A total of over 4,600 student-athletes have been honored through the conference since its inception in 1997.  Overall, 21 of the 23 NCAA sponsored sports were represented at the 2009 conference.