Bucknell University Athletics
Busy Saturday at NCAA Leadership Forum
11/9/2013 11:52:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --�Bucknell rower�Victoria Kielty, women's lacrosse midfielder�Sam Rickels�and women's lacrosse head coach�Randall Goldsborough�are among more than 350 student-athletes and 125 athletics professionals attending the annual�NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum�this week in Providence, R.I. Kielty and Rickels check in with their experiences from Saturday's events.
Today started just like�yesterday,�with another great breakfast with lots of bacon. After eating too much food, the Forum was lucky enought to have Chris Herren as the first speaker of the day. He was a previous player on the Boston Celtics, who talked to us about his fight against drug abuse. I will not be able to give his speech justice because of the impact he had on the entire room. My eyes were glued to him for the entire hour as he told us about how drugs impacted his family, his college career, as well as his professional career in the NBA. It was an emotional, but powerful message that all athletes should have the privelage to hear. The biggest take away from his talk was "be a pro at being yourself."
The next activity was with our color groups, where we discussed our personal "brands", and how we can effectively communicate our brand to the rest of the world. We talked about the proper use of social media and what we should or should not be displaying on the internet.�
After lunch we were lucky enough to have an unbelieveable guest speaker, Rayna DuBose, who was greatly impacted by bacterial meningitus in college after her first year of playing basketball at Virginia Tech. Because of the bacterial meningitus, both her feet, and both her hands were amputated, and she had to learn how to live life again as a quad-amputee. She was such an inspirational person, showing us that even the worst of situations can be turned into a positive one.�
Our last part of the day was dedicated to team bonding and a service activity. My team, the pink team, struggled with the tarp exercise in team building but then redeemed ourselves with our crafting skills. All of the athletes made blankets and teddy bears for the children at Rhode Island's St. Mary's Home for Children. It was such a rewarding experience to know that our work is going directly to the children. My team had a great time working together to make a difference, and I hope our small contribution makes a big impact on the lives of these children.
Our day ended with the best dinner so far, in my opinion, and some pictures. The rest of the night is ours to explore Providence, do homework, or even write some blogs. I really do not want to leave Providence. I am having such an amazing time and I am meeting such great people and friends. I am so excited for our day�tomorrow, but really wish I had more time to spend with these new friends that I have met. I am so blessed to have this experience, and I truly think it is making a difference in who I am and the leader I am becoming.�
As day 3 of the Forum draws to a close, the 350 student athletes are slowly starting to realize that we actually have to return home�tomorrow. This is fueled by the fact that today, if it were even possible, surpassed our expectations for the entire trip. We started off our day with breakfast in the grand ballroom and a breakdown of the day to come. What followed next was one of the more profound speakers I have had the pleasure of listening to.
Chris Herren, former Boston Celtics basketball star shared his story of drug abuse, addiction and how it ultimately destroyed everything he held dear with the body of students. For more than an hour, he captivated his audience with the content of his tale and his expert delivery. The moral of his story was that we are given opportunities daily to make good choices as student athletes and as leaders. Where he failed as a leader was in his neglect of these opportunities. He sat in conference rooms jut like the one we sat in today and laughed as speakers shared their stories, brushing it off with the common teenage misconception that we are invincible and that "that won't happen to me." It was in this failure to truly listen when he had the chance that he fell into the trap of social pressure surrounding the use of alcohol and drugs.
Similar was the story shared by Rayna DuBose later on in the day. The former Virginia Tech basketball player turned motivational speaker retold her battle with bacterial meningitis that took all four of her limbs when she was just eighteen years old. This was a terrifying reality that took place her freshman year. The way she has led herself out of an event that should have destroyed her was truly inspiring to see, and the way she now leads others to appreciate life for everything it gives them is a tough act to follow. It is a story that many athletes can relate to in the experience of and recovery from an injury. It brought many in the room to quietly shed tears.
Many of the topics we covered in our colour team breakout meetings surrounded the issues covered by our speakers. Serving others as a form of leadership was a hot topic for discussion, using things like community service initiatives as a way to bring it back to our various campus climates and workplaces.
We also discussed the ways that service through leadership can help individuals shine through doing some good for communities less fortunate than their own. A scavenger hunt of sorts was set up for each colour group, asking that we complete three team tasks. The first was a blindfolded task in which we had to communicate what kind of animal we were -- it had been given to us on a piece of paper a few minutes prior -- to our animal pair in the room. Hilarity as well as a realization of the importance of clear communication ensued. Our next task was to have our entire group stand on a tarpaulin and flip it over without anyone getting off. This task took decidedly longer than finding the individual making the same animal noise as we were behind a blindfold. Even so, we were able to apply the skills of patience, support and cooperation to the task at hand. Many teams realized how tough it can be to continue with a task that looks insurmountable. It took us more than half an hour to complete the task, but complete it we did and we were able to progress to the third and final station.
There we made blankets, teddy bears and gift bags for the children being taken care of at Saint Mary's Home for Children, which takes care of and rehabilitates underprivileged individuals who have come from abusive homes. There wasn't an athlete or administrator in that room who didn't feel good about the fact that they had directly contributed to the happiness of another person. It truly drove home the concept that leadership is about giving back to those who need it most. Leadership, we learned, is not about how many people serve a leader but conversely how many people that leader has served. If I had to choose only one good thing that came from this weekend's activities (which, I assure you Sam, Coach Randall and myself would find impossible to do) it would be gaining the knowledge that we had directly given back to members of the greater Providence community and, indeed, members that one day will form our future.
The session ended with a short reflection back in our colour groups on what we had learned, followed by another group meal -- our last dinner together -- and colour team pictures. Again, having been running on full steam since�7 a.m.�this morning, this time with no break, the athletes and facilitators alike are ready to put this day and it's experiences in our back pocket and carry them around with us until the trip home�tomorrow, at which point we will reflect on them and wish they could happen all over again.
The final update will come�tomorrow�evening, after our final closing sessions with our groups and teams.
Players Mentioned
