Student athletes who attended Section V’s annual Leadership Summit at SUNY Geneseo late last month found the day’s worth of team-building activities and presentations worthwhile.
The focus of this year’s summit was mindful leadership. Attending students - there were more than 100 from 36 local school districts - participated in team-building games designed to encourage communication and then heard presentations on mindfulness and culture-building.
Sophomore Michael R., who attended the summit alongside fellow Avon students Hudson V., Sarina M. and Olivia P., said upon arriving at the college, students were organized into different teams and then rotated through a series of games that challenged teams to work together to accomplish a common goal or task.
“Some of them you had to move a ball from one point to another or organize yourself without talking by birth month,” said Michael.
“There were probably 10 of them,” added Hudson, a junior. “We didn't know many people there but at the end, after a bunch of stations, it was easier. You were way more comfortable with the people you were with in your group.”
Echoing Hudson, Michael said at first, he didn’t know what to expect and he was hesitant to engage with his teammates, who he’d just met. By the end of the day however, he said he was much more comfortable and was “talking to new people I’d never talked to before.”
“It was worth it, I think,” Michael said. “It was really fun and cool.”
After the team-building activities and lunch, attendees assembled in the ballroom in MacVittie College Union for a presentation on mindfulness from Ms. Erica Ebert, a mindfulness educator who also serves as a staff development trainer in social and emotional learning for Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES.
Michael and Hudson said Ebert’s talk centered, among other things, on how to use mindfulness techniques to improve in-game athletic performance.
“One of the other things she talked about that I thought was interesting was practicing paying attention,” said Michael “She asked us ‘How much do you practice paying attention?’ We were a little confused about what she meant by that. She was like ‘At school, do you zone out at some point or daydream? At sports practice, I bet you practice paying attention more than you do at school.’”
The point Ebert was trying to get across, said Hudson, was that paying attention is a skill, something you can practice and get better at.
Ebert also led attendees in breathing exercises and talked about how to manage stress both during athletic contests and in everyday life.
Michael said he can see himself using some of Ebert’s stress-management strategies in the future, like “before a big game.”
“We just got done with basketball and before a big game sometimes you've got a little bit of nerves,” he said. “Using mindfulness, breathing - definitely breathing - that can be a major piece in calming yourself down before a big shot or big game.”
After Ebert, attendees heard from Scott Fitch, the longtime Fairport boys basketball coach and SUNY Geneseo alumnus who was a two-time all-American in basketball during his college career with the Knights.
Fitch, who’s also served as a junior nationals coach for USA Basketball, spoke about the importance of building up a positive culture within a sports program that will remain even after a player graduates.
“He was saying when he got to Geneseo at first, there wasn't really a culture. He said he started that culture by saying ‘Hey, nice pass’ to his teammates and by the end of his four years there, everyone was saying ‘Nice pass,’” recalled Michael. “It was just their thing. He really built a culture that continues to this day.”
Hudson feels the culture of Avon’s varsity boys basketball program is one of its strengths. Given the team has won three straight sectional titles the past three years, it’s hard to argue the point.
“I think we’re all close friends, we do a lot of bonding, team dinners, we go places and the more we know about each other, the more successful we are in practices,” he said. “We’re harsh on each other in practices but we all know it's for the best and we mean the best. We’re all trying to accomplish the same goal, so with that mindset it works well.”
Avon Athletic Director Andy Englert was happy Avon student-athletes had a chance to attend the summit and absorb some of the mindfulness, stress-management and culture-building strategies proffered by Ebert and Fitch.
“We’ve had to cancel the summit the last couple of years because of the pandemic, so it felt good to be able to bring it back this year and give the kids a chance to hear from our presenters,” said Englert, who sits on the Section V committee that organizes the summit. “The presenters this year were absolutely fantastic and I’m hoping our students who attended - they were all underclassmen - learned a few things that they’ll find useful and be able to incorporate into their everyday lives and game-day preparations.”
From left Michael R., Sarina M., Hudson V., Scott Fitch and Olivia P. pose for a photo at the Section V Leadership Summit, which was held March 29 at SUNY Geneseo. One of the summit’s featured speakers, Fitch spoke, among other things, about the importance of building a positive culture within athletic programs.