by John Iamarino, Commissioner, The Southern Conference
Continuing an educational program started in 1995, the Southern Conference recently held its annual Student-Athlete Leadership Institute (SALI) at the Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, NC. A total of 22 student-athletes and 14 administrators and coaches participated in the three-day seminar underwritten by the Conference as part of its commitment to its Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
The program was supervised by Associate Commissioner Sue Arakas. Students were nominated by their athletic departments to attend the seminar. Classroom discussions were moderated by Kevin Ringhofer and Martha Harding, training facilitators from the Minnesota Institute of Public Health in Mounds View, MN.
“Our goal with the SALI is to provide a unique learning experience for some of our student-athletes who have displayed some measure of leadership skills on their own campuses,” said John Iamarino, commissioner of the Southern Conference. “We hope they’ll take the information back to their own teams and SAACs in a positive way.”
Topics included identifying leadership qualities, setting standards of conduct, making appropriate decisions, and using communications skills to effectively deal with coaches and teammates. Many of the discussions featured interactive role-playing. Time was also spent discussing the potential negative aspects of such popular Internet website communities as MySpace and Facebook.
“SALI has many benefits, the first being leadership instruction through skill instruction and interactive practice sessions,” said Emily Pierce, a soccer player from Western Carolina who represents the SoCon on the NCAA’s national SAAC. “It also lets student-athletes see what our conference and institutional administrators do and made me want to share this Leadership Institute with other conferences so that their student-athletes can have a similar opportunity to participate.”
In addition to classroom sessions, attendees divided into teams while tackling the facility’s challenge course, which included rope climbing and hiking. Free time was also used for makeshift volleyball and basketball contests.
“I think the greatest value of the SALI was meeting people from other conference schools that you constantly compete with,” said Dianna Thomas, a junior volleyball player from Appalachian State. “It gives you a whole new perspective on student-athletes who are your enemies on the court. It helps form bonds of friendship and helps you realize that other students experience some of the same problems and concerns that you do.
“I enjoyed working together in small groups taking differing opinions and ideas and looking for possible solutions. On top of all that, it was a great time.”
As a part of the Southern Conference SAAC, the group has adopted the Ronald McDonald Pop Tab Project as a conference-wide community service project.