Coaches: Listen to the General

By David Danzig

Coaches could learn a lot from the way that General David Petraeus was able
to implement the "surge" of troops and change the tide of the Iraq war.

In sports terms, Petraeus can be seen to have inherited a culture of losing
when he took command of all coalition forces in Iraq in 2007. As chronicled
in Tom Ricks' book "Fiasco" and Greg Jaffe and David Cloud's "The Fourth
Star," when Petraeus took over, there was an overwhelming sense among troops
on the ground that the war effort was "drifting" and that the mission was
beyond reach.

Petraeus' first job was to set achievable goals, an undertaking often
discussed in sports but rarely seriously undertaken. For two years he
labored with his aides at a Fort in Kansas, devising a counter-insurgency
strategy designed to "win" the war. But winning on Petraeus' terms would
look a lot different than it had previously. It was no longer about killing
foreign fighters; it was about securing the population at home.

Under his leadership, his commanders saw that they were never going to win
the war by chasing around terrorists and capturing or killing them. The
collateral damage was just too great. This method of fighting produced more
enemies than it conquered.

Instead, Petraeus and his top aides launched a new strategy. They sought to
win the war by playing defense -- building small, secure posts in the middle
of cities and villages designed to prevent al Qaeda and insurgents from
terrorizing the local population. They no longer chased the bad guys around
the country and counted success by the number of kills, but rather saw their
job as holding ground and preventing civilian deaths.

Recasting the "game" in this way was revolutionary for the commanders he
supervised. A war that seemed un-winnable now seemed like it might be
worthwhile after all.

Petraeus saw his job as one that focused not only on finding the right
strategy to win the war but -- just as importantly -- communicating that
strategy clearly to the troops so that they would understand where their
leadership was taking them and why.

As Jaffe and Cloud point out, Petraeus realized that the more he focused on
"staying on message," the more likely he was to send clear signals to the
troops. For example, Petraeus asked for an update on one obscure electrical
tower in a particular commander's region during every flag officer staff
meeting. Time and time again, Petraeus would take time out from strategic
discussions to ask about the lone tower. Was it fixed? Where were the parts
coming from?

The point, as Jaffe and Cloud say, was not that Petraeus particularly cared
about this tower, but as the 1-star General struggled to answer Petreaus'
questions about it, every other 1-star General in the room thought to
himself, "I better be sure that my towers are functional because I don't
want to become the focus of his questioning."

Both of these books are filled with other excellent examples of how Petraeus
used his role as a leader to inspire others to fulfill seemingly impossible
tasks. See, for example, a great story about how Petraeus was shot during a
training exercise, required emergency evacuation by helicopter, followed by
life-threatening surgery on his chest, and then managed to convince doctors
to release him from the hospital three days later by doing more than 100
push-ups in a row!

Petraeus has moved on from his role in Iraq and is rumored to be considering
a run for President. Lucky for those of us who are coaching that he is not
considering a job in the sports world!

David Danzig is a long-time friend of SportsChallenge and a former basketball coach at the Edmund Burke School in Washington D.C. He has been trained by the Positive Coaching Alliance. Currently, he coaches in Rome, Italy and works for Human Rights Watch.

Coach Berg's 2010 Themes Cont'd, Part Nine: Loyalty

Just like summer, Coach Berg's blog series is ending all too quickly. Here is the final chapter in her 2010 SC Themes revisited series.


SUMMER THEME: LOYALTY

At the end of the SC Leadership Academy, we send off the student-athletes with a theme to focus on throughout the rest of the summer. This summer’s theme is loyalty—to our friends, family, academics, sport’s teams, and most importantly to our self. Although the coaches cannot see how the student-athletes are doing with this theme post SC, loyalty was present throughout the nine-day Leadership Academy. About one in four student-athletes were returnees from the year before. Moreover, about 90% of the coaching staff was either a returning coach from the year before and/or SportsChallenge student-athlete alum! There is a saying that goes, “If you want to know how good of a coach you are, see how many of your athletes come back next season.” With such a large number of returning coaches and student-athletes, SportsChallenge has proven itself to be a unique, positive environment that keeps adults and teenagers alike coming back to learn more. May we all be willing to have that same loyalty to our future endeavors—on and off the field/court.

~Coach Molly Arenberg

Talk about loyalty, 90% of the SC staff in 2010 were returning student-athletes or coaches.

Coach Berg's 2010 Themes Cont'd, Part Eight: Resilience

DAY 8: RESILIENCE

Perhaps one of the most important life skills a person can develop is the ability to bounce back after a loss. The best example of resilience at Summer Academy had to be the white team during the “SportsChallenge games”—a sort of SportsChallenge Olympics which divides all 120 student-athletes into four teams: red, white, yellow, and blue. This year’s competitions included dodgeball, Capture the Egg (i.e. capture the flag except with eggs), a water balloon toss, and a dance competition. The white team was in last place after the first event—the dodgeball tournament. Then, the white team bounced back and won the entire SportsChallenge games for the first time ever in SportsChallenge Summer Academy history! Three claps for the white team!

~Coach Molly Arenberg

"The best example of resilience at Summer Academy had to be the white team

during the 'SportsChallenge games'"

Coach Berg's 2010 Themes Cont'd, Part Seven: Following

DAY 7: FOLLOWING

You may be confused to see “following” as a theme-of-the-day for a leadership academy. However, understanding when to follow is just as important as great leadership. After all, a leader by definition is a person who guides and influences a group of people—a group of followers. And one of the most important indicators of success of a leader is that very first person willing to follow. At SportsChallenge, Coach Stafford talked to the student-athletes about what makes a good follower. A good follower is an active participant within the group. She/he is willing to not only back-up the ideas of the leader, but also willing to contribute new ways to improve upon the leader’s idea. A great follower is involved actively in the betterment of the leader and the group.

Coach Stafford talks about "following" at evening forum.

The best example of following from Summer Academy would have to be every single student-athlete that attended the 2010 academy. Every coach agreed that this particular group of student-athletes quickly and eagerly embraced the SportsChallenge way. Part of the coaching staff’s goal is to lead the student-athletes to a point where they are confident in their ability to lead amongst their peers. This was only successful with the active participation of every student-athlete as a follower of their coaches and the life lessons SportsChallenge presented to them.

~Coach Molly Arenberg

Coach Berg's 2010 Themes Cont'd, Part Six: ENERGY

DAY 6: ENERGY

Morning Vitamins sessions were a daily energizer at SC

The energy at SC is contagious. I think one of the most energetic moments this summer was when the coaching staff challenged the student-athletes to an obstacle course during the morning vitamins session—testing speed, quickness, agility and strength. The student-athletes and coaches were cheering for each other non-stop and pushing their bodies to the limit! To the coaching staff’s dismay, the student-athletes won! Good work programmers!

~Coach Molly Arenberg

Coach Berg's 2010 Themes Cont'd, Part Five: BALANCE

DAY 5: BALANCE

Whether it is balancing commitments to school, a sport’s team, work, family or friends, learning how to balance daily responsibilities is an ongoing challenge presented throughout life. Halfway through the Leadership Academy, all the student-athletes got a twenty-four hour period of rest. Adequate rest time is just as important as hard work, and the student-athletes took full advantage of their break period. Some student-athletes socialized with their new diverse group of friends, some watched Avatar in the St. Andrew’s theater, and some slept in. My Marquette University Cross Country coach Mike Nelson once told me, “The next most important thing to working hard is adequate rest time afterwards.”

~Coach Molly Arenberg

SC Student Athletes enjoy a little time off in the St. Andrew's theater.

Coach Berg's 2010 Themes Cont'd, Part Four: COMMUNICATION

DAY 4: COMMUNICATION

In athletics, there ought to be constant communication both verbal and non-verbal, between players, coaches, teammates, etc. One of my favorite parts of SportsChallenge is the prevalence of non-verbal communication among the coaches and student-athletes. Everywhere you go, you will see people giving each other high-fives and fist bumps! Coach Garcia of the girls’ basketball program even made up her own handshake that she did with each of her student-athlete advisees whenever they saw each other!

~Coach Molly Arenberg

Coach Drury encourages using non-verbal communication.

Coach Berg's 2010 Themes Cont'd, Part Three: EMPATHY

DAY 3: EMPATHY

The ability to place yourself in another person’s shoes is an invaluable life skill. The strength of the relationships we develop in our families, at school, at work, and on our sport teams is greater when we can see the world through another person’s eyes. Empathy is an opportunity to step outside of our world and better understand the thoughts and feelings of those around us.

One of my favorite examples of empathy throughout the Summer Academy was when the girls’ basketball program and the girls’ soccer program joined to play the other program’s sport for a training session. The girls’ basketball program ended up playing an all-time favorite soccer shooting exercise, “power-finesse.” The girls’ soccer program ended up playing the basketball shooting exercise, “knock out.” To further emphasize the theme-of-the-day, the coaches literally put themselves in another person’s shoes and swapped gear for the training session. The basketball coaches were decked out in soccer shorts, shin guards, soccer socks, and cleats. The soccer staff could have fooled any b-baller as they were fashioning jerseys, basketball shorts, sweatbands, and basketball shoes.

~Coach Molly Arenberg

Coach Berg's 2010 Themes Cont'd, Part Two: FOCUS

DAY 2: FOCUS

The ability to focus is paramount in the classroom and during competition. One of the most important parts of the Summer Academy are the advisory meetings on the second day. The advisory meetings are when the student-athletes sit down and really think about what they want to focus on and get out of their nine days at SportsChallenge. Each coach is an advisor for four student-athletes.
This summer, almost all of the student-athletes made a goal of participating at least once in every leadership and sports psychology class. What a great goal to focus on during the classroom portion of the Summer Academy! If the student-athletes gained the confidence to raise their hand in class at SportsChallenge, imagine how much more they’ll get out of their school classes at home!

~Coach Molly Arenberg

Be sure to check out Part Three tomorrow!

The Themes of 2010

Every year at Summer Academy, the evening is highlighted by a “theme-of-the-day.” Presented as a challenge for the student-athletes to embrace their next day, the theme-of-the-day is a characteristic that helps define leadership. After two years as a coach and two as a student-athlete, Molly Arenberg is a “theme-of-the-day” veteran. So, who better to re-live this year’s Summer Academy by recounting our theme-of-the-days than the Marquette soccer star herself?

INTRO/DAY ONE

One hundred twenty high school student-athletes, 40 coaches, 24 athletic training sessions, 12 sports psychology and leadership classes, nine days, two college prep seminars, one leadership academy—one SportsChallenge family. There are many ways to try to quantify and describe the 2010 SportsChallenge Summer Leadership Academy. Unlike any other sports camp, SportsChallenge nearly doubles the typical four to five day sport camp in length and intensity. In order to focus the student-athletes for each of the nine days, there is a designated “theme-of-the-day” presented each day of the program. I think the best way to catch a glimpse of this summer’s Leadership Academy is to take a look day-by-day, theme-by-theme.

DAY 1: RISK

Right away, SportsChallenge encourages the student-athletes to take risks throughout their stay—on and off the field/court. Most student-athletes take advantage of the safe SC environment to make mistakes on the field/court and learn from them. However, if you ask a student-athlete a time at SportsChallenge when they most enjoyed taking a risk, they would indubitably tell you a story about a time they participated in the SportsChallenge original pompine.

Pompine is a game where a challenge (e.g. sing a song during a meal, perform a skit at evening forum in front of the entire program, eat a piece of orange peel) is presented by a “pompinator.” The pompinator counts to three, and everyone shows a number between zero and five with their hand. All the numbers are added up, and the pompinator counts around the participating group up to that number. Whoever it lands on loses (or wins… beauty is in the eye of the beholder). My favorite pompine was when Coach Schirmeister had to eat her lunch without using her hands! It was entertaining to say the least!

~Coach Molly Arenberg

Re-live Summer Academy daily through Coach Berg’s theme-of-the-day posts as she reflects on each day of camp!

Reflection From an SC Alumnus!

Eric, Sports Challenge Alumn ('02, '03), has been coming back to SC the past two summers to help out and take photographs of SportsChallenge in session.
Below, Eric shares his experience of coming back to SC!!!


Seven or eight years ago my family and I, together, made the two-hour drive up to Middletown from DC. For the past two years, I have been making the drive myself. Although the drive has changed a little, (Middletown now has a Wal-Mart, etc.) the one constant that remains is the nervous energy that builds in my stomach as I turn onto Silver Lake road just a mile away or so from the St. Andrews.

I arrive a little after lunch Friday afternoon and although it’s siesta time, the SC student-athletes can be seen practicing dance moves for the grand finale of color wars later that evening. The white team, led by coaches L. Caldwell, Hartheimer, Weinfield, Polykoff, Griffith, McGarvey, Garcia, Hare, Barrera and Garcia appear to be in organized chaos. As Coach Polykoff shows off his impressive moves from “Thriller”, a handful of people are gathered doing the Soulja Boy and student-athletes Sean Brown and Malcolm Williams practice singing their duet for Coach Koster, a judge for the performance.

Shortly before 3 p.m. the teams break up for an intensive two and a half hour afternoon of Athletics. As I enter the gym to begin my volunteer task of taking pics, I find myself immediately wanting to jump in with the girls program for a game of dribble tag but have to remind myself to keep my lens focused. The girls work on their shooting form in small groups as Coaches Drury, Griffith, Carden, Garcia, JP and Gomez walk around to critique and encourage.

After satisfying my basketball fix, I make my way out to the pitch. The boys soccer program immediately catches my attention as soccer balls fly from side to side across the row of tennis courts as part of a “soccer tennis” tournament set up by Coaches Dean, Gonzalez, Weinfield, Nolan, Barrera, A. Galvan and C. Galvan. Directly adjacent to them, the girls are running around playing a game called “haveit” where the object of the game is to literally try and run circles around your teammates, accruing points for each lap, while the other team passes the ball between their legs and over their heads as quickly as possible. Coaches Gibson, Roberts, Arenberg, Caldwell, Hare and Holle look on, encourage and keep tally while Coach Schirmeister runs full speed with one of the teams all the while encouraging at the top of her lungs.

The sun sets as the student-athletes filter into the cafeteria for some suppertime nourishment and last minute preparations for SportsChallenge’s version of America’s Best Dance Crew. By 8:05 the auditorium is overflowing with energy and excitement as the performances begin. A Journey remake, drag queen Lady GaGa, break dancing, and three incredible a capella performances highlight the night as the white team and their MJ moves take home the gold. After the show, it’s off to bed, for some much needed sleep before another long day.



By seven a.m. the student-athletes have lined the court for morning an agility, strength and conditioning workout aptly named “Vitamins” for the SC athlete. They fly through it with quickness and determination and carry the energy straight into two Athletic sessions and leadership class for the day.

In the afternoon, I make way to the basketball courts where coaches McGarvey, Roach, Shay, Grell, Deasey, Hyde and Polykoff are leading the boys program through a couple drills before their playoff tournament to decide who will be crowned the 2010 SC champion. Each game is intense and well fought but Team Paparazi led by Coach Deasey rises to the occasion to claim victory in the Championship game. Tired and exhausted after a second long day, I try to relax before waking up to say goodbye to one more summer at SC.

The quality of learning, character building, athletic training, and fun that I experienced over the past two days has been a constant fixture over the eight years I have known SC. It is as constant as the nervous energy I will get next year when I make the drive again.

-Eric Schlein

"It's All About Your Mentality"

Mark Puma, from (AMC, New York), describes to a few coaches how his role as a leader is different here at SportsChallenge than it is back home.

"You learn so much. You think all your going to do is sports, sports, sports,…and it’s not all about that--it’s about your mentality. Some people, they could be the best players, but if they don’t have that mentality, they can’t go that far or be a team player. You can't be selfish or not want to give something to the program. Here you learn that with a team, you’re going to get further than you could by yourself. It’s better to be united as whole team than as an individual."

Mark participating in his afternoon Leadership class.

Questioner: Are you the captain of your team team in New York?

Mark: No

Questioner: Do you feel like a leader?

Mark: Yeah, in a way...I try to push other people do better. Not only skill wise, but outside too, like schoolwork. I sometimes help them out with their schoolwork, and their problems.

Q: What about here at SC?

Mark: Here, I start new, and I work on getting to know people, and I’ve worked on figuring out my spot on the field. I like meeting the different types of people.

Q: What type of leader you’ve become?

Mark: I think I mostly lead by example. It motivates me even more to see them working hard if I know they’re following my lead.

Q: Have the coaches here been different?

Mark: Well, here they make sure you get better, and that you’re working on it. For example, I kicked the ball and I over shot it, and they taught me to lean towards the ball more, so that it doesn’t go as high.

Mark P. (part of the White Team), tagging someone for "Capture the Egg"
After the second part of SportsChallenge games, the White Team led the way in first place.

Finding Your Voice and Valuing Others' Perspectives

Well, I feel that here at SportsChallenge I have to be more vocal, because I know I’m a shy person. I’ve learned to step up out of my shell, and communicate--and if I don’t, my ideas won’t come out. If I don’t step up I know I won’t get better at what I’m doing.

As a female, you have to work hard. When you play coed, you have to play a little aggressive with boys. They just think they have the control – you have to prove to them you can be a leader – you have to speak your ideas, play aggressively, and motivate your team.

In class, I’m usually quiet – now I raise my hand more, instead of the teacher having to call on me. When we set our SMARRTE goals, my advisor made it really specific and told me how many times a day I should try to speak out.
My advisor and I set the goal to speak once to three times in class...and on the field I play defense, so my goal has to been to tell them to push up more, or come back.

In my Sports Psychology Class, we did an activity called "human knot". We were tangled, and this kid Bader was in my class, and he’s usually the one who steps out and talks. The teachers though, said he couldn’t talk for this exercise. Everybody, including me, started to talk more, and I felt that was an opportunity for me to speak up more. I learned that you have to be able to listen well, and speak just at once.

This has been really different than Bell. At Bell, there’s a lot of Hispanics, and El Salvadorians. Here though, there are folk from Philadelphia, and New York.
I think it’s cool that our roommates are basketball players, because we have to step in there shoes, and get to know them. I also think it’s cool that we switch up sports, and get to play with them.

I learned that we speak different languages. We talk slang, but their slang is way different from DC. When we say a word, they’re like "what??"
Since your so used to your DC people, it’s a good opportunity to step to the other side and see how they speak, and their language.

-Elsa (Bell, Washington DC)

SportsChallenge Alumna Describes How SC Has Helped Her on Her College Soccer Team

Coach Celeste (right), coaches her players to not lean back too far when striking the soccer ball.


Did you learn things at SportsChallenge that helped you once you started playing on your college team?
"Yes! I remember my first year here in '05 as a student athlete, I came with my sister and a lot of other BAYSL girls. The biggest thing I needed to work on was my tone of voice, which is ironic because now I’m teaching class on exactly that! When I play, and get frustrated, I have a very hard time trying to correct people without criticizing them much. I remember Coach Nakamoto and Coach Koster pulling me aside and saying that this is something to work on. For the communication day, that was my goal. That has helped me soooooo much now. I was the worst. My motivation wasn’t to upset people, but to push them to my expectations. Now, I’m better at speaking to people as we’re playing and as we’re on the field. I’ve learned how to speak on the field. I still try to work on it now, especially as a coach. I’m trying to work on how to address players.

It has been a huge help on my college team – I’m so much better at speaking to teammates.

This year, I plan to bring the SMARRTE goal sheet to my team at college to fill it out at the beginning of the season. So we’re all on the same page, all have a goal, and all have a plan that we can look back at. I’m also going to bring back some of the team building exercises, just to build team comrades."
-Coach Celeste (Alabama A&M University)

How SportsChallenge is Unique

Benny (left) encourages Coach Polycoff and others on their squat jumps

SportsChallenge is different from other camps because of it's attention to the little details that other camps fail to pay attention to. The psychology classes are one of the key ingredients that set SportsChallenge aside from all of the other camps. The classes portray the emotion of positivity, which automatically helps you on the court/field. Not only do the classes ooze with positivity, but the general vibe from both the coaches and the players exhibits that everyone wants to be here and wants to get better. From a first time SportsChallenger, I can honestly say that the general feeling/vibe attaches you right away, and doesn’t let go. If you have to do a penalty run, you have 29 other guys cheering you on; if you are the last one to finish a stretch, you have 29 other guys clapping it up for you till you finish. The encouragement from the players and coaches alone sets SportsChallenge aside from other camps.

-Benny, (The Calhoun School, New York)

SMARRTE GOALS

Here at SportsChallenge, we teach SMARRTE goals. Not smart goals, SMARRTE goals!!
Kaneesha and Karen describe goals they made for the 9 day program, and these goals are the perfect example of SportsChallenge SMARRTE goals.
SMARRTE goals consist of being:
Specific
Measurable
Accountable
Reach
Realistic
Time
Effort




Today in my basketball elective I worked on post entry passes. Basically, you get around a defender to pass to the high post, and you have to look at your target before you pass, and you have to focus. You can’t waste your dribble, and you have to get shoulder to hip to draw contact, and create space.

Goals:
My goal for the week is to meet two new people during lunchtime, and I’ve achieved that. I think I want to get to know them more now...more than just their name and where they’re from.

My athletic goal is make smarter decisions in passing and offense. I’m going work on that little by little, by paying attention to the little details, and really use communication with my teammates. Knowing who has the ball, and who has which offensive player guarded.

-Kanecia (High School for Health Professions and Human Services, New York) and Karen (Long Island City High School, New York)

Sports Psychology Classroom Debates

Questioner: We’re here with Malcolm and Kaiza, returning SportsChallenge athletes, and members of Sports Psychology 206. What were you guys up to in class today?

Malcolm: We were debating our opinions about certain topics, and whether or not it was inside or outside of our circle of control.

Kaiza: That’s the general idea of what we did.

Questioner: Can you give me an example of something you debated?

Kaiza: Luck! We debated whether or not luck was inside of our control. We got into a pretty heated debate, with a lot of good input from both sides.

Malcolm: Out of all the topics, luck was the most heated argument, and it brought out the most ideas from everybody.

Kaiza: A lot of different angles to approach it from.

Questioner: What were some other hotly debated topics?

Kaiza: Team chemistry. There were a lot similar to this that you could go both ways on – many where I had to have an internal debate first.

Questioner: Were you surprised by the debates?

Kaiza: Surprised by some of the rebuttals – people had interesting ways of tackling the prompt.

Questioner: what has been your biggest take away from classes so far

Malcolm: Honestly, I’ve made sure that based on the debates we’ve had, I’ve learned how to take in others opinions. …I can empathize how they feel about the situation, and compare to how I feel about the situation. It shows me how others think.

Kaiza: Similarly, it’s taught me how to be open minded, and not just to look at things from my point of view, but others.

Kids debate in their Sports Psychology Class about what is in their "Circle of Control"

Student-athletes also spent a lot of time discussing the fact that referee's calls are outside their circle of control; by recognizing that a referee call is outside their circle of control, the students supported the idea that they should not waste energy worrying about a bad call.

(Malcolm-Urban Dove, New York; Kaiza-California)

Sharing Personal Experiences

The class I am taking is about stereotypes and cross-cultural communication. We discuss stereotypes that exist towards groups of people. It is really interesting because the class is very diverse, and every student has a different opinion on most subjects. One thing that we all agree on is that stereotypes are bad. Coach Edwards, one of our teachers, encourages us to leave the politically correctness out of the equation so that we aren’t only scratching the surface of the issues we discuss. We share personal experiences that give us each as listeners a chance to use empathy, which is our theme for today, and put ourselves in our classmates’ shoes. The class has really opened my eyes to the stereotypes that exist in today’s society, and although it is early in the camp, I can already feel a difference in my personal empathy.

-Chris (Landon High School, Washington DC)

How Big's Your Circle

Sports Psyche AP is by far the best, most intense class at SportsChallenge! Taught by Coach Koster and me, a group of 25 returning student-athletes have been pushing themselves mentally in class. Yesterday, we worked through an awesome discussion of what is inside our circle of control.


As a class, we came up with a list of 40 different things that can affect the outcome of a game, such as hard work, referees, field condition, focus, energy, etc. Then, the student-athletes were asked to decide if they felt a particular factor was inside, or outside one's circle of control. Students moved to the side of the room they agreed with, and then they had small group discussions to decide who would argue their case on behalf of the group. Finally, the two representatives from each side came to the center, and they debated why a factor was on the inside, or the outside. The discussions were great - student-athletes were not only coming up with creative arguments, but they were pushing each other to think further. The theme of the day is Empathy, and several times throughout the discussion students were asked to put themseles in each others shoes. When we spoke about field condition, something most of the group felt was outside of their circle of control, Jonathan stepped up and said "When it snowed on our field in New York last winter, our team showed up to the field 5 hours before the game and shoveled the whole thing".

The challenge to student-athletes after the exercise is to work on enlarging their circle of control. As we grow into leadership roles, it's important that we work on making our circles larger.
-Coach Stafford (Washington DC)

Infected by the SC Bug!

As we walked into the dinning hall for dinner we uncovered a competition that would lead to one of the loudest most energetic events I have ever experienced. SportsChallenge Games are a combination of random basketball and soccer players, male and female mixed into four color teams! We all came into a gym that felt to be 110 degrees, and everyone’s sweat dripping like a waterfall. Regardless, everyone was involved representing their color squad, and attempted to get the most points by leaving their shy selves in the dorms. Everyone seemed to have been infected with the SC bug. Day 3 of SC and I cant wait for tomorrow!

-Stephanie (Big Apple Youth Soccer, New York)

SPORTSCHALLENGE GAMES VIDEO

In preparation for Dodgeball, the four different teams yelled cheers together to get pumped up!

Theme of the Day: Focus

After a hearty breakfast, SportsChallenge athletes hit the fields and court for the morning practice session. For girl’s soccer, this morning was especially energetic. We started the session off with a game relating to the theme of the day, which is focus. This theme of focus carried into the intense practice that followed. The first activity during practice involved working on improving our individual skills. Some did diving headers, others worked on power shooting and finishing off of crosses. The energy was high throughout and everyone was excited and happy to be there. This pure enthusiasm shows that SportsChallenge athletes are unique because they are passionate about their sport and love to improve.
-Alice and Helen

Early Bird Gets The Wor...kout

Waking up at 6:30 AM is not something that most high school students look forward to, especially not during the summer. This morning proved (yet again) that SportsChallenge student-athletes are not like most high school student athletes. The tennis courts were filled by 6:45, meaning that everyone was 15 minutes early for the session. The athletes didn’t just arrive early, they showed up ready to work hard. We built on our ladder work from yesterday, picking up the pace and intensity. After ladder work, we introduced an advanced agility and balance drill that had everyone jumping and sweating. If the rest of the days goes as well as this morning, it’s going to be another great day at SportsChallenge.

-Coach Deasey

The athletes begin their morning with high knees and butt kicks for warm up. Coach Deasey, (right, yellow shorts), encourages them to go across the tennis courts all together in a straight line.

Girl's and Boy's Basketball worked on agility, changing direction, and abs on the tennis courts.

Girl's and Boy's Soccer rock out in the Tripe-H workout: Hurdles, Headers and Hills.

Coach Arenberg enthusiastically calls out to the Soccer players asking if they are READY to get started!

They Know Me, They Push Me

Kathleen, articulate and insightful, describes the ways of Sports Challenge! She commented that bringing a fan was definitely a good suggestion! She also appreciates the way the Staff makes sure you never go hungry with frequent snack times!


"The first day at SportsChallenge started very early. Here they do not have many rules, but they make certain that you abide by the ones they do have: being on time, being respectful and being prepared. I for one am not a morning person, but the coaches stressing not to be late did the job! In fact, I even got to morning Vitamins on time! Even I was surprised. The coaches are enthusiastic and kind. Furthermore, they work to learn everyone's name.
I found the psychology class particularly interesting as it focuses on the cognitive aspect of how athletes perform. The theme of the day (there will be one for every day) was risk. I found that those participating took risks by branching out and meeting new people."
-Kathleen (Texas)

Students Inspired to Make the Most of Their Time Here

From the moment of our first all camp meeting, I knew this would be an amazing experience. You could feel the energy of everybody there from the start and it seemed like everything would run smoothly from there. The coaches and staff immediately introduced themselves and were the chillest people imaginable. Nobody here knew what to expect but I think we all wanted to get the most out of this camp.

-Jawhar K.


Student-Athletes Jawhar Kimbrough (left) and Karen Jiminez were awarded a green shirt this morning for hard work and excellence during Vitamin A.