GNAC Student-Athlete Spotlight - NCAA Leadership Forum

The value of strong leadership in the realm of athletics can lead to team chemistry, victories and championships. That same value applied to everyday life can take people to new heights and enrich lives in a variety of expected and unexpected ways.

In early November the NCAA hosted more than 350 student-athletes and 125 athletic professionals from the northeast to its annual leadership forum in Providence, Rhode Island. The four day event allowed student athletes and collegiate athletics professionals to come together and discuss important issues and discover new ways to approach fundraising, writing team expectations, planning community service projects and much more while growing as leaders on and off the field.

The GNAC was well represented at the conference with several students and professionals in attendance as well as Commissioner Joe Walsh.

"Although we had a busy weekend of fall championships I felt it was important to visit with our student athletes and facilitator representatives to let them know how important their wonderful work is to the perception and the status of the GNAC," Walsh said. "I am so very proud that the conference has the best and the brightest that DIII has to offer."

Those best and brightest were selected to attend the conference because people at their school felt they were good representations of leaders on the field, in the classroom and socially. The honor was not lost on those selected.

"This was one of the greatest opportunities I have had throughout my college career," Ashanti Jackson, a junior on the Emmanuel College volleyball team said. "Not only because I was able to go to this and obtain the information that I was given, but to also be acknowledged and recognized from the people above and around me as someone to be worthy of going to such an event."

For others it was a potential opportunity to launch a career in athletic administration.

"I aspire to work in the administrative field of athletics," Kayla Cummings, captain of the Anna Maria College women's volleyball team and the school's SAAC president said. "I knew that this would be a great way for me to grow and harness more skills I can use both now and in a career I may have in the future."

The conference was also a chance to meet people that most of these athletes and professionals would not have had the chance to otherwise. They formed relationships that some are going to carry into the future Danielle Miller, the assistant athletic trainer at Rivier University said. She has plans to meet up with somebody she met when two of the athletes they worked with at the conference face each other this season.

What made the conference so unique for many was the immediate comfort they felt from the positive environment that was established.

"Once the group meetings began we became a family," Jhonneris Mendez, a senior pitcher from the Suffolk University baseball team said. "No one judged anyone, no one thought they were better than the person next to them, and to me that made my experience that much better."

On top of the group meetings there were also speakers including Chris Herren and Rayna Dubose who addressed the conference. Each speaker brought a different message and was able to inspire those listening.

"We were able to hear about real stories that impacted their lives and help us understand what it means to be a leader through good, bad, and unlucky situations," junior Denise Archetto of the Lasell College softball team said.

"They are truly motivating and have inspired me to become the best athlete, leader, and person that I can possibly be," Cummings said. "I highly encourage anyone who has the opportunity to attend any event that either Chris or Rayna are presenting at."

In the end though the experience wasn't about what they were told but instead it was about what they learned about themselves and how other people lead and respond to certain situations.

"Even though we are all different, we still share some similar qualities with everyone," Mendez said. "The best way to communicate is to use those similarities to reach a common goal."

"I was able to more closely identify my leadership style, as well as gain the ability to identify that of others," Cummings said. "Seeing my strengths, and also weaknesses, on paper was a great way for me to pin point what I need to work on in order to become a more effective leader. The concept of identifying these skills in others is something that I now seek to accomplish every day in my classes, on my athletic team, as well as in our SAAC to help meet all of our goals."

The values that were instilled on the athletes in attendance won't fade away anytime soon and will be a part of them beyond the boundaries of their sport.

"I truly believe I can make this world a better place by consistently utilizing the individuals around me and creating a team to tackle any threshold in any environment," Jackson said.  

*Written by GNAC Communications Specialist, Eddie Lockhart