Athletics department offers summer leadership opportunity

The Sports Challenge Leadership Academy, which takes place at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania, from June 26 to July 2, provides the opportunity for high-school soccer and basketball players to engage in rigorous athletic and leadership training.

Junior Alex Bal, who plays soccer, attended the camp one year ago. Junior Christian Grant, who plays basketball, went two years ago.

“I’m kind of a shy person so my family thought it would be a good decision to put me in a setting where there are a lot of leaders,” Christian said. “You become who you’re surrounded with.”

Players wake up daily at 7 a.m. and spend an hour doing intensive workouts and drills. Then, after breakfast, they move into a series of practices and classroom leadership sessions.

“In one class, we talked about what it looks like to be a leader, and the conclusion that we came to is that a leader doesn’t necessarily look like anything; a leader can take many different forms,” Christian said.

According to their website, the goal of the program is to foster leadership in young athletes that incorporates six core skills: self awareness, grit, teamwork, empathy, self-efficacy and gratitude.

According to Christian, classes were made up of athletes from other sports so you get to know people outside of the sport you play in, some of whom he stays in touch with today.

“The best thing I learned was just to be vocal and be outgoing, talk to people, they’re nice,” Christian said. Coming back to school, he brought the lessons he learned about communication onto the court.

“During freshman year I was really quiet and not outgoing because there were these people that were four years older than me. Now I’m really talkative with myself and everyone around me. I get vocal during practices and games,” Christian said. He said it’s important to encourage his teammates