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.

Rockin' Start

Coach Griffith led fast feet this morning at Vitamins.

VITAMIN AAAAAA!!

The tennis courts were alive and full of energy this morning! Our first
session of Vitamins was fantastic. The bucket of boom was pumping tunes
and the morning tone was set with some rockin' dance moves from Coaches
Grell, Poly, Gibs and Berg. The student-athletes were motivated by Coach
Griffith's and Stafford's enthusiasm and went to work on the speed and
agility drills. After our warm-up, there were ladders, hurdles and boxes
going all at once. Everyone was working very hard,and then all of a sudden
Coach Deasey heard the AB TRAIN coming, and the entire group hopped on
board by holding the plank position. That accompanied by some high-energy
foot fire drills wrapped up an AWESOME first day of Vitamins! I am now
feeling energized and I know the day is just going to continue as great as
the note it started on!!
-Coach Carden

The Student-Athletes woke up at 6:30AM to begin the morning with ladders! Vitamins begins at 7:00AM sharp every morning.

CONTAGIOUS ENERGY

I knew today would be a GREAT day from the moment that I walked into breakfast and immediately was asked by Coach Edwards ‘what today was?’ and my fellow co-coach, Coach Holle replied with ‘GAME DAY!”. It’s the day we [the staff] have all been working towards for the past couple of days. By around 3 o’clock tonight most the student-athletes had arrived and the energy was electric and contagious. I remember when I first arrived as a student-athlete in 2006 that I was nervous, but as soon as getting on campus began to realize the great journey I was about to embark on with my 100 and more new friends. Meeting all the new student-athletes was exciting and makes me look forward to the great relationships I have already begun to build with them. After our opening meeting where Coach Morgan introduced the great week we have planned, it was time to hit the athletic fields/courts. After getting some energy out and getting a vibe for the team/family we would be playing with for the next week, it was time to close the day with evening forum, which I remember as being one of my favorite things when I was a student-athlete. At the beginning each program had some loud and enthusiastic cheers to truly show the energy that is already buzzing around campus. From the heartfelt appreciations and red leaderships shirts handed out, the forum was a fantastic way to end the AWESOME first day here at Sports Challenge. I am overly pumped for the week ahead and can already tell that each one of the people at SportsChallenge will change my life for the better and it is my goal to do the same. The good times are already beginning to roll here at Sports Challenge Leadership Academy and won’t stop for NINE days!! Looking forward to tomorrow- that’s all for now- COACH HARE

FIRST DAY!!!!

And the student-athletes have finally arrived! Finally putting faces to the names we have been elegantly drawing on dorm name tags and binders, the coaches and staff have illustrated the true meaning of enthusiasm and friendliness in the opening 5 hours of the program with hugs and high fives (to the student athletes who don't understand why everyone already knows there name). While perhaps ambushed at first with the energy and encouragement to "open up," by evening forum the different sports were already having yelling competitions with who can be the most loyal (and therefore loud) to their sport. Already imitating the meaning of family, we (for the most part) sat politely and listened to the rules for the next 8 days, voiced encouragement to Savannah as she took the second public risk of the program (the first to everyone who came without knowing any one here!), and gave our first appreciations. Right now they are all in their first classes, learning the art of sports psychology and soaking up as much knowledge as they can from their beloved coaches. Sports Challenge Leadership Academy has finally started!

Boy's Basketball huddles in their first session. Guest Eric Boateng (St. Andrew's and Arizona State student-athlete graduate,) helps coach.

Staff Trains for Student-Athletes to Arrive!

Traveling by bus, train and plane from diverse backgrounds, the student-athletes will join us tomorrow on the beautiful but hot campus of St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Delaware.
The staff has worked tirelessly the past four days preparing for the programmers to arrive! After late hours of preparation, the staff is ready and excited to meet all of the student-athletes! We have gone through situational training for both coaching and teaching; we are ready for the week to begin.


Through these meetings, we have seen the staff growing and developing relationships that will help the week be successful! The staff has grown very close from being together early in the morning to late at night.

We are eagerly waiting for everything to begin!
The staff has covered many different topics on the art of coaching and teaching
-core values
-the three different types of leaders (lead by example, the enforcer, the encourager)
-multiculturalism
-the necessity to challenge our student-athletes
-what various characteristics make up the ultimate leader


Through these discussions, we see that sports are an optimal venue for the teaching of life skills, especially leadership.