I was at a conference today. First one I have ever attended. A lot was discussed and I am sure it will take me a very long time to digest it all.
Communication was talked about and how to communicate more to people who are doing a job, a little less to those who are mid level managers and less to those who oversee at the highest of high levels. That is important to understand. Don't bother busy people with unimportant information.
Another thing discussed was study hall for athletes. You learn stories of how athletes would pile into cars and then sign in to study hall, leave and then sign out two hours later.
Then you had the story about the athlete who slept in a dark room where vending machines were during study hall. When woken up and asked to do work the person asking the question to the athlete was interrupted by a delivery guy from Domino's.
Another person talked about having your core values and sticking to them (while also always following the organization's line)
Another person spoke about making sure student-athletes can stand on their own two feet when they graduate.
I started to think about that and my core values for dealing with student-athletes.
Making sure student-athletes are responsible and able to function by themselves is the most important thing to me as someone who deals with them. Athletes are immature on a whole. They need to learn to stand on their own two feet.
When advising them and working with them it's important to support athletes, but also not be a crutch. In other words show them how to do something. Help them. Teach them. But don't do it for them.
One of the hardest things about working with athletes is understanding the balance between wanting them to like you and having them respect you. Having them like you is not of the utmost importance. I think it's important because I think you need to have a good relationship with them so that they trust you and know they can get your help when they need it. However, you also have to make sure they respect you.
How you deal with different athletes is important to understand. I have a lot of experience dealing with Olympic Sport athletes and athletes that don't have problems communicating, or doing what is necessary to succeed. If you tell them to do something they do it and they push themselves. You treat them like the adults they are.
I have to learn how to work with other athletes, on bigger sports, who are immature. You can't treat them as adults. You have to baby them more and be more like a parent. You have to double check with them. You have to ask to see things. You learn to ask more questions and look into things.
So athletes being responsible is very important to me. I don't like doing things for athletes. I don't have time to and it's counter-productive. I want to make sure athletes can learn to function on their own. Let's face it, many have been babied through school and told their special. The real world isn't like that.
I was so proud of a track runner who showed the ability to go up to someone in her class and ask about an assignment in a class. The runner is quiet and doesn't like talking. I wanted do see if she could actually go talk to the person. I encouraged her to and she did. I was so happy. I knew she could ask for help in person if she needed to. I wasn't sure if that was the case.
I am a believer in learning. I am not a believer in getting grades. I am a believer in gaining skills and the learning process. Can you learn something in this class. If not can you learn how to deal with a problem that this class is giving you in terms of dealing with life. Maybe you got an unfair grade. How do you respond?
I am ok with a low grade if I know a student-athlete learned how to improve the process of how they do something.
I am ok with a low grade if I know a student-athlete worked hard and applied themselves.
I believe in letting student-athletes fail when they need to fail. This is hard. I don't know how to approach this. Failing puts kids in jeopardy of not being eligible which is not good. However, if a student-athlete doesn't care, doesn't put in the effort or is clearly unable to comprehend a subject, I think it's good that they fail. They need the feedback of failing, because it's better for them to learn that they are going to fail when they are in college and have the resources and abilities to change things. Obviously you need to help keep them eligible so it's walking a fine line and depends on each individuals situation. But failure is and should be an option in my mind.
Failure is also important in terms of selecting a major. If an athlete wants to be a chemistry major, but they can't pass the beginning chemistry class then it's important that they know that chemistry is not a realistic option. If an athlete gives 100% and can't pass it's telling them something.
I believe in respect. Student-Athletes need to respect people. Disrespect will be something that will really push me over an edge quickly. An athlete took something off someone's desk, without asking, and then when they were told that they needed it back said "It's not a big deal, calm down." I got so ticked off. I yelled at them later for that attitude. It was a two or three minute or more monologue in which I got PISSED OFF. But the athlete understood what I was talking about.
Progress and Hard Work are pillars to me and every successful person I know. You can always get better and should seek to progress and do so. Progress is what I look for. You can't learn everything at once. You need to learn to take things one thing at a time. You need to do lots of small little things everyday in order to do great things. In order to make large improvements in study habits you have to start small. I want to see progress and I celebrate the smallest progress. Sometimes I worry I celebrate progress too much, but I always look for it. Hard Work is what correlates to success more than anything else.
One thing that I have learned is that not all high schools are created equal, especially in the rural south. A 3.7 GPA doesn't mean all that much. Some kids can get great grades, but when they transition to a college the course work is so much more rigorous or in depth then what they had in high school. It can be hard for them to understand how it was so easy for them to get a 3.7 in High School and then end up with a 2.1 in college. Not all high schools are created equal.
This is sort of a collection of random stories, but I'll conclude by saying that these things are most important to me.
Integrity
Progress
Hard Work
Respect
Responsibility
I guess those are the things that mean the most to me.
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