From January 10 through 13, men’s basketball player, track and field jumper, and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Co-Liaison Gideon Armah-Amissah (‘26) was part of Luther’s delegation at the NCAA Division III National Convention held in Phoenix, Arizona. The four-day convention included opportunities to meet delegates from other Division III schools, various award ceremonies, education sessions, issues forums and business sessions and was an opportunity to connect with student athletes, SAAC representatives, coaches and athletic directors alike.
Responses have been edited for clarity and length.
Q: What does SAAC do?
Gideon Armah-Amissah: SAAC is the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. We’re at a national and local level, and what we do is we empower the voice of the student athlete. Essentially, we pair up teams together. We also do community outreach, and we also listen to the concerns and the questions of the student athletes. We are for the students, by the students. We are also going to be sponsored and get advice from Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Renae Hartl, Associate Director of Athletics Adam Carpenter and coaches. Essentially, we want to be run by the student athletes themselves and let our voices be heard.
Q: How did you get involved with SAAC?
A: Funny story, my teammate, Tim Mewborn (‘24), forced me to go to a meeting last year as a freshman. Ever since then, I’ve been connected with SAAC, and I originally wanted to go in on another leadership opportunity. That opportunity wasn’t open, but another one was. I’m Co-Liaison with Megan Miller (‘25) and Kayla Will (‘25). We were making blankets and hearing about SAAC really piqued my interest. I looked at it as another opportunity to serve the student athlete but also work on my leadership skills.
Q: Did Luther send a delegation or did you go by yourself?
A: Luther did send a delegation. We sent our Assistant Athletic Director [Carpenter], our Athletic Director [Hartl], our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator Coach Chris Garcia-Prats and then myself as the student athlete representative.
Q: Why was attending the convention important?
A: Originally, I was pretty skeptical about going with basketball and track and having a pretty hectic schedule, but the importance really came through. It really didn’t hit me until I saw all the other student athletes there from 449 other NCAA Division III schools. There were around 6,000 people collected together for a common goal, which is to support the NCAA in terms of making sure that the student athlete’s voice is seen, heard and loved. At our Saturday business meeting and our Friday meeting as a conference, that’s when I truly felt like a delegate, and I truly felt like my voice was heard. It wasn’t just something to put down on my resume, or to take pictures for Instagram or Snapchat. This was something where I could truly make a difference and an impact for my community and the people around me.
Q: Did you make any notable connections?
A: Yes, I did. We were at the awards ceremony, and I was sitting right next to a guy from LaGrange College named Antoine. I’m from Columbus, Georgia, and about 40 minutes up the road is LaGrange College. It was good to see him, we’ll be connected through that. We met people from Maryland, met people from Texas, met people from California, all over the country, and it was just really, really refreshing to see that everybody was there for a common goal, regardless of your background, or where you go to school, or the size of your school or the sports you played. It was really cool.
Q: What did you learn at the convention?
A: One of the key things that I did learn was that we changed up our philosophy statement for Division III. I learned about the impact of the philosophy statement and what it means for the future of Division III and NCAA. I learned about the legislation process of if a school wants to wants to propose a new rule or a new practice, and I also learned about what it takes to run a Division III championship and the different resources that are needed, how to take care of your mental health as a student and athlete and how much sleep you need. I also attended different forums and different educational sessions that were really insightful. One of my favorite sessions that I did go to was learning about the new insurance policy for the NCAA. This resonated with me being an athlete that has struggled with injuries and just have seen individuals where their collegiate careers or their playing careers have been cut short. Because of this, it’s really hopeful to see that they’ll be able to get the medical medical coverage needed, both physically and mentally, without it really coming from their own pocket and just making it affordable for everyone.
Q: What did a typical day at the convention look like?
A: Structure-wise, everybody had to get up pretty early. A regular day would be me getting up at 6:30 a.m. and we would get breakfast. After breakfast, we would go to two educational sessions. Then, depending on the day, you would have a special event. You might go to Special Olympics, or you might go to a specific meeting. After that, you get lunch and go into a few more sessions and forums. I had the misconception that a lot of these things will be boring. It was very insightful and very exciting. Ultimately, at the end of the day, you might have a lot of time to yourself. I spent a lot of that time just exploring Downtown Phoenix and catching up with old friends. Shout out to my boy Isaac because he actually ran a half marathon in Phoenix last Sunday. It was pretty cool to see him and be out with the other eight American Rivers Conference schools and being able to connect with their Athletic Directors and their students and just hearing funny stories. That was a typical day. Nothing too crazy was going on.
Q: What did you take away from the experience?
A: I took just the perspective of the student athlete and [the experience] broadened my horizons as to what a SAAC member looks like. I usually saw SAAC as just something that was at Luther College, something where we would occasionally meet once a month over Zoom for a meeting, but it’s far from it. SAAC is something that is nationally known, and it’s something that I believe in as a student athlete, especially if you want to, one, serve your community and, two, increase and enhance your leadership skills. It’s something that you should get involved in and reach out to. All in all, I just learned that it’s something that can connect you with so many different individuals. I’m not just talking about Instagram or Snapchat or social media, I’m talking about LinkedIn and future opportunities to hold once you get out of school.
Q: After your time at the convention, is there anything new Luther’s SAAC plans to instate?
A: We actually have our meeting once everybody comes back from J-Term. The plan is for me to share my experience, and then we also do have the conference convention coming up in the next coming weeks. We’ll go from there. Hopefully, the things that I saw at the national convention can be implemented at Luther and then hopefully we can have more people on board with SAAC at the national level.