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