Our student athletes had a great day of learning at Section V’s Leadership Summit earlier this week at SUNY Geneseo.

Five of our student athletes - Lauren H., Jessie C., Maria G., Bobby B. and Kal D. - attended this year’s summit.

“These are all student athletes that play multiple sports,” said Athletic Director Andy Englert, who accompanied students to Tuesday’s summit. “So in addition to choosing kids who are and have the potential to be leaders on their teams, the group we had will bring what they learned to a good chunk of our sports teams.” 

Student athletes from nearly four dozen schools across the region heard presentations from Erica Ebert, a staff development trainer in social and emotional learning for Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES who led a training on mindfulness, and longtime Fairport boys basketball coach Scott Fitch, who spoke on the power of social media to create positive and negative outcomes.

Fitch, who earlier this year was named head coach for the 2025 USA Basketball’s Men’s under 16 National team, also spoke with students about the importance of being thankful - for good coaching, quality teammates and opportunities to compete. 

Ebert’s presentation centered on how to confront challenges in a healthy way and prepare the mind and body not only for athletic contests, but for everyday situations that have the potential to inject stress or anxiety into students’ lives. 

Many thanks to Section V, our two speakers and SUNY Geneseo for putting on such a great event! 

(Photo courtesy of Andy Englert)