A leader of a sports program here at Saint Viator is expected to build trust, guide, and teach the other members of the team to be the best version of themself they possibly can be, whether they are the best on the team or the worst. The leadership council here at Saint Viator provides an opportunity for leaders of sports programs to grow, and help out their programs as much as they possibly can, through guidance by the athletic director. It also provides a chance for people of every culture and sports program here at Saint Viator to learn about each other and work with one another to be the best teammate and leader they possibly can be for their programs development and success.
It started when athletic director Mr. Mike Obsuszt asked all of the head coaches to give two leaders from their respective programs who would be a good fit for this council. “They don’t necessarily have to be the best on the team, or the most athletic. They can be anywhere from a lower-level, JV player to the best player on the varsity team,” he said. The purpose of this program was to get student leaders from every athletic program at Saint Viator together to learn more about each other, and help their program become the best it possibly can be.
This program focuses on even the very small details of being successful as a leader. Simple things such as how having good body language can help a team. “If all of a sudden something goes wrong as a team, and I as a leader am slouched, have my head down, and have a fearful expression, that’s not gonna help my teammates gain confidence,” said Mr. Obsuszt. “But if I look over at my teammate and see they’re confident, that can change the attitudes of your teammates.” They also talk about what things they can do outside of athletics to improve their teams performance. These things can include getting involved with things not athletic related at Saint Viator. “It’s enjoyable for me as an athletic director because now I can connect with a couple athletes in every sports program, where they may just see me walking out in the hallway and not know who I am, to make connections and grow with them.”
This council is important to Saint Viator because it encourages student athletes to be the best version of themselves, whether they are playing their sport or not.
“It’s just a matter of being the best at what you’re doing, whether it’s working hard to get your grades up, or being the best in a non-related Saint Viator activity”, said Mr. Obsuszt. This is important because it creates a foundation of leaders that we can look up to here at Saint Viator.
“Leadership skills aren’t just specific to one sport, or one role on a team. You can be a player who does not play much and still be the best leader on your team.” As you gain more leadership skills beyond high school, it opens up many opportunities later in life. One of the most important things employers look for nowadays is the ability to lead and work with others, and sports can help us do this. This is why more than ever, being an experienced leader can take you very far in life.
“Learning leadership skills can only bring back positives to the sports programs here at Saint Viator.” If Mr. Obsuszt plans on doing this again next year, he would ask every coach to give him two more athletes (not the same ones from last year) to join this program and gain leadership skills to bring back to the program. This is so, hopefully, over the next four years, eight athletes from each sports team will have gone through the classes and instruction this leadership council provides, and bring it back to their sports program to help grow the team culture.
In all, we have learned that the leadership council here at Saint Viator only brings us positives, and they hope to continue it more in the future. Developing the next generation of leaders is something that Saint Viator takes pride in, and this program helps them take great student athlete leaders in every program, and helps them grow not just their sports programs, but the school as a whole. Knowing more about this program it’s important because it helps students at Saint Viator—especially freshman—learn and grow from experienced student athletes who have learned and grown throughout three/four years of experience during high school.