I attended the Ohio Governor's Summit on Character Education this week in Columbus and was excited to hear the lunch speaker, Andy Geiger, Director of Athletics at Ohio State University. His keynote speech addressed "Values and Commitments in Ohio State Athletics." Mr. Geiger spoke about teamwork within the athletics program at the university. Among many other happenings, hundreds of their employees form working teams and participate in workshops to become better at building sportsmanship, ethics and integrity. It is a planned effort. Working teams include everyone from the recruiter, to the coach, to the athlete. The message is the same for everyone: Unacceptable practices are not tolerated. No matter what the offense cheating, stealing, lying, breaking rules it will not be tolerated. Geiger praised those at the lunch (school teachers, school administrators, Extension educators) for conducting programs and classroom activities that help school-age children learn, understand and practice good character. Why should Geiger be concerned with the character of potential OSU students? A new report by the Josephson Institute of Ethics conducted with 4,200 high school athletes reveals that while high school sports do teach positive values, in too many cases, young athletes have no concept of honorable competition. For example, nearly half of males think it is OK for a basketball coach to teach players how to illegally hold and push, and only a third think it is improper for a football coach to use a playbook stolen from the opponent. Thirty-seven percent believe that "when all is said and done, it's more important to win than be considered a good sport." Why should you and I be concerned with the character of these young people? Because these same young people will soon be the next generation of corporate leaders and political candidates and will bring with them the values learned through high school sports. I doubt these values are limited to youth in sports, although I have no research report to document that. What would a 4-H member be willing to do when competing for grand champion at the county fair, or a Boy Scout obtaining that final badge? I think it becomes obvious that Character Really Does Count! It becomes apparent that we as parents, coaches, teachers, athletic directors, 4-H advisers or Boy Scout leaders, need to work together to make sure our young people learn, understand and practice good character. If it's important for OSU athletes, shouldn't it be important for our kids too? For a copy of the report go to www.charactercounts.org.