“Overtime!” engages coaches and student-athletes in discussion on the intersection of leadership and sports. Readers are strongly encouraged to reflect, comment and discuss the articles.
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
Talk about loyalty, 90% of the SC staff in 2010 were returning student-athletes or coaches. 
