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!