The purpose of the Game Plan 4 LIFE Character Award is to recognize NCCAA student-athletes and athletics staff who epitomize the Christian character qualities of:
Love - demonstrating a caring and consistent love for others (I Corinthians 13)
Integrity - living out ethical principles in a clear consistent manner (Job 27:5)
Faith - acknowledging a life of faith and sharing that faith with others (Hebrews 11)
Excellence - striving to do all things at the highest standard (Philippians 4:8)
Torey DeLozier (Maranatha Baptist Bible College) and Austin Muchow (North Central University) are the selections for the 2013 GP4L Character Award for student-athletes. Dr. Vickie Denny (Clearwater Christian College) and Mike Faro (Roberts Wesleyan College) are the selections for the 2013 GP4L Character Award for athletic staff. These deserving recipients were awarded at the NCCAA Annual Convention Hall of Fame Banquet sponsored by SCORE International on Friday, May 31st.
Torey DeLozier, a senior volleyball/women’s basketball/ softball player from Maranatha Baptist Bible College, embodies all the character qualities of the Game Plan 4 LIFE – Love, Integrity, Faith, and Excellence.
Torey is a mathematics education major with a concentration in coaching with a 3.92 GPA as well as a 3 sport varsity player at Maranatha. She is very involved on campus being a captain on her volleyball and basketball teams, four year Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member, a math tutor, mission’s trips team member, member of the orchestra, as well as a volleyball coach and counselor.
Torey has excelled on the athletic courts and field during her career at Maranatha earning an extensive list of awards from both the NCCAA DII and NCAA DIII. Torey was most recently named NCCAA DII/AVCA Player of the Year in volleyball. She played in 442 volleyball sets, 119 basketball games, and 105 softball games in her 4 year career. Torey was the national leader in kills per sets three years straight and was a first team All-American in volleyball and basketball.
The quality of Love is apparent in Torey through her passion for sports and her teammates. She is a dedicated and encouraging player in the athletic arena as well as a servant leader. Her servant leadership extends throughout the rest of campus and into the community as she has led Adopt-A-Highway projects, volunteers regularly, and ministers in her church in the areas of nursery, orchestra, and deaf ministries.
In terms of Integrity, Torey honors God by doing right in athletics and in the other aspects of her life. She believes and follows God’s Word, and the faculty and students appreciate her Godly testimony. Maranatha Athletics Director Robert Thompson said about Torey’s integrity, “She is honest and trustworthy and gives her best effort in each endeavor.”
Torey uses sports as an opportunity to share her Faith with others. She has given her testimony to many academy students in schools, camps, and clinics. She believes God would have her use volleyball as a career and a way to impact others for Christ.
Torey demonstrates Excellence in her life as evidenced by her academics and athletics. Her high level of achievement in both areas models an exemplar collegiate student-athlete. In humility, she knows that her talents are from the Lord and desires to give Him glory for all her accomplishments.
Congratulations to Torey DeLozier, female recipient of the 2013 NCCAA
Game Plan 4 LIFE Character Award for student-athletes
Austin Muchow, senior cross country runner from North Central University, exemplifies the qualities of what the Game Plan 4 LIFE is all about – Love, Integrity, Faith, and Excellence.
Austin has run at North Central for the past four years. During his career at North Central his team has won the NCCAA National Invitational three times while he ran in the team’s top seven each year. Austin is also an NCCAA Scholar Athlete majoring in psychology.
Austin demonstrates Love for Christ by loving others on and off campus. He volunteered at several Minneapolis schools and plans to use his psychology degree by offering counseling services for at-risk individuals in low income areas. North Central University Athletics Director Jon High said about Austin, “He genuinely cares about the success of his teammates both on and off the running course. I have personally seen Austin demonstrate love and care for a teammate who is going through a difficult personal struggle.”
While being a dedicated runner, Austin is also a phenomenal leader for his team. His Integrity as a leader is unquestioned among his teammates. He led the team’s morning runs five days per week while balancing working 20 or more hours per week and volunteering off campus all four years of his career. Austin was also director of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and Leadership Council of Captains at North Central. Beyond his activities on campus he helped lead missions trips overseas to make a difference in the lives of those they served there.
Austin is a man of Faith. He challenges other students, both on the track and cross country teams, and across North Central’s campus. He is a thoughtful servant of Christ, always seeking ways he can communicate his faith through humble service and being a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.
North Central Cross Country team’s motto is “Be Excellent” based off the scripture from I Corinthians chapter 13. “No one lives out the more excellent way of selfless love than Austin,” says head coach Trey Meadows. Austin’s pursuit of Excellence is found throughout every part of this life, as a student-athlete, leader, and follower of Christ.
Congratulations to Austin Muchow, male recipient of the 2013 NCCAA
Game Plan 4 LIFE Character Award for student-athletes
Dr. Vickie Denny, Head Volleyball Coach at Clearwater Christian College, has spent 25 plus years in athletics mentoring young women through the game of volleyball. Although she has had great success as a coach on the court, her greater achievement has been seen in the success off the court in the lives of the young people she has impacted for the cause of Christ. She lives out all the character qualities of the Game Plan 4 LIFE – Love, Integrity, Faith, and Excellence.
Coach Denny has a deep Love for each of her players and genuinely wants each to know and have a relationship with the Lord. She ensures that no player goes through the season without knowing what compels her year after year to coach and that is the love and desire to influence young ladies for the Lord. She has a true concern for her players in every aspect of their lives, and invests in them far beyond practice and game settings.
Anthony Wilson, Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Clearwater, said about Dr. Denny, “Coach’s Integrity is unquestioned. I have observed encounters where she has turned away what looked like advantageous scenarios for fear of damaging her integrity. As a teacher in the classroom, I have observed her work with students and demand their integrity. On the court, she has instilled an honesty in her players that comes out in life. She is committed to leaving any area of competition having been known for her team’s honest and sportsmanlike participation in play.”
A person would not have to spend much time with Dr. Denny to see her Faith in action. She places high importance on her relationship with Jesus Christ and uses her platform in athletics to share that with others. She is an active member of her local church, and she makes sure her players are involved in kingdom work. Her success has brought attention to her and her program and she is quick to express her faith during interviews and printed articles.
The word that describes Coach Denny best is Excellence. The philosophy of excellence permeates all that she does, including the way she mentors. It is important to her that her athletes pursue excellence on the court, in the classroom, and in their walk with Christ. She spends a great deal of time making sure these things are not just accomplished, or pursued, but they are done to the best of each person’s ability.
A former player of Coach Denny commented, “Without Coach Denny’s influence in my life, my college experience would have been drastically different. Not only did she teach me volleyball, but she taught me about life and challenged me in my walk with the Lord. Coach Denny has been a consistent Godly role model for hundreds of young women over the years and will continue to do the same for many years to come.”
Congratulations to Dr. Vickie Denny, female recipient of the 2013 NCCAA
Game Plan 4 LIFE Character Award for Athletic Staff
Mike Faro has led and served at Roberts Wesleyan College for the past five decades in several different capacities. Mike has done it all at Roberts, starting off as a standout student-athlete lettering in soccer, basketball and tennis, then serving as a basketball, soccer, track & field, and tennis coach, along with being a Physical Education professor, then in 1992 stepping into the role of Athletic Director, the role in which he currently serves. Mike has served all these roles with the character qualities of the Game Plan 4 LIFE - Love, Integrity, Faith, and Excellence - and impacted many along the way.
As a coach, Mike not only led and impacted his student-athletes for Christ, but everyone involved. Chris Williams, then his assistant coach, now Athletics Director at Southern Wesleyan University, said about Mike, “I quickly was taught the game of basketball from the coaches’ perspective but what I really learned was how to truly Love the student-athlete. Mike has truly loved each of the student-athletes he has had the opportunity to coach. As his assistant I was able to absorb all of those moments when he was teaching the team. What a leader and mentor he had become in my life.”
Mike has Integrity that is noticed and appreciated by all. Student-athletes, staff, family, friends, and opposing coaches alike all agree and admire this quality in Mike. He is determined and competitive but has been a great mentor of the importance of keeping the focus on the hearts of student-athletes verses the winning of accomplishments. “Mike is someone I desire to follow because I know where his steps have been and where his heart wants to lead us,” said Head Men’s Soccer Coach, Mark Fish.
A true disciple of Christ is someone who reproduces. Mike Faro’s Faith has lived up to the calling and has reproduced hundreds of disciples, many of whom now serve in higher education and collegiate athletics. Mike has diligently and faithfully used his talents and opportunities in athletics to serve The Great Commission.
Mike continues to demonstrate the importance of not just working hard but working with passion and purpose. This formula of hard work, passion, and purpose creates an environment of Excellence in Mike’s life. In every area of his life as a husband, father, athlete, coach, administrator, and mentor, Mike strives for excellence in the most humble of ways.
A glimpse of the impact Mike Faro has made is seen in Joe Stirpe’s, a former player, comment, “I am eternally grateful for Mike’s longstanding, faithful, and effective athletic ministry. Over the years Mike has touched hundreds of coaches and student-athletes in leading and inspiring them towards a closer relationship to their Savior. I know this first hand as I was brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through the soccer program at Roberts Wesleyan which Mike Faro was my coach.”
Congratulations to Mike Faro, male recipient of the 2013 NCCAA
Game Plan 4 LIFE Character Award for Athletic Staff