This is the first week of the Student Athlete Program. This program is designed to improve the character, sportsmanship and leadership of high school athletes. This program should be fun and engaging. It is not supposed to be “one more thing” or “something you have to do.” Each week we will focus on a different trait.
| Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Commitment | Positive Attitude | Coachable |
| Desire | Enthusiasm | Passion |
| Determination | Initiative | Preparation |
| Perseverance | Effort | Grit |
| Appreciation | Teamwork | Sportsmanship |
| Discipline | Unselfishness | Competitiveness |
| Accountability | Trust | Caring |
| Humility | Good Judgment | Composure |
| Honesty | Integrity | Courage |
| Faith | Tolerance | Service |
| Leadership | Leadership | Leadership |
| Character | Character | Character |
To teach each trait, you will receive 7 daily lessons via our online app. Each day of the week is different and the format looks like this.
- Monday Life Lesson – Powerful pre-recorded life lessons delivered by coaches and athletes.
- Tuesday Sports Blog – Dr. Hoedel will author a sports-based blog about current events related to character and leadership.
- Wednesday Role Model – Students will read about a group of diversified sports-oriented role models that exemplify the traits covered in the program.
- Thursday Dilemma – Students will respond to sports-oriented ethical dilemmas to teach decision-making skills and ethics.
- Friday Pep Talk – Passionate speeches from coaches via YouTube will be viewable to get athletes ready for the big game.
- Saturday Movie Clip – Segments from character-based popular sports movies will be viewed and discussed.
- Sunday Goals – Student-athletes will complete short assignments to improve their individual and team performance.
Purpose of Blog: Every week I will sit at my computer and write about a sports-related current event about character and leadership. In the blog, I usually provide my perspective, a video link and discussion questions. The purpose of this blog is to make a simple point – character and leadership matter today! Some of these stories will be inspirational and some will teach tough lessons. Sometimes it will be about someone who ruined his/her life with one bad decision and sometimes it will be about a selfless act that positively changed someone’s life. The joy of writing this blog is that I never know what will transpire that will become a blog post.
My Hope #1 – Read It: Every Tuesday you will receive a notification via the app about the new blog post. To be honest, I spend 2-5 hours every week researching and writing these blogs and I would hate it if no one ever read these posts.
My Hope #2 – Comment: For each post, I will provide discussion questions. Respond to them and let me know what you think about the story. Be articulate. Don’t just say you disagree – say what you disagree with and back it up with a solid rationale. Keep it clean. Don’t swear or put down other students’ views. It is a character and leadership site, so I will filter comments that are non-productive.
My Hope #3 – Be Inspired: I hope that these blogs will inspire you and that one or many of them will change the way you approach life. I believe that students can be inspired and want to be inspired. People and stories can be the source of that inspiration.
Your Turn:
- Tell me what state you are from and the name of your school?
- How do you think improving your character and leadership will help you in athletics and in life?
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I’m from Wisconsin and I go to Divine Savior Holy Angels. I think improving my character and leadership will help me in athletics and life because it will allow me to try my best and be my best self and use my leadership skills to move ahead in life.
It was a good blog, it gave me some knowledge of what this website and app is.
My name is Rachel and I swim for the Coffman Crocs in Springboro, Ohio. I think being able to lead a team will help my overall performance and I will even be able to incorporate my skills into the other parts of my life, like school.
Wisconsin
DHSA
I am from North Atlanta High School in Georgia. I think that improving my character and leadership will help me in my athletics and life by building a positive attitude and a hardworking mindset.
Improving my character and leadership will help me in athletics and in life because it will make me a more accepting, respectful, and responsible person. I will be able to apply these life lessons to both my athletics and every day life to continue improving myself and becoming a more well-rounded person. Hopefully, these skills will make me more understanding and get myself and others through tough situations.
I am from Georgia and I attend North Atlanta High School.
Improving my character and leadership will help me in athletics because I will able to grow as an athlete while building leadership skills as well
I am from Ohio and improving my character and leadership will help me in athletics and life by being a better person and will help me apply these to other things I do outside of swimming.
This program or this app will help us to improve our character and even it will help us to improve in sports. I’m playing volleyball and when I watch the videos or when I read the sport goals, I really think about what I can do to be best. So this program really helps us to improve in sports.