Believe it, athletes are role models

Sporting News, The, Jan 13, 1997 by Mary Kurek

Imagine that you;re a high school athlete, grinding out the daily routine of classes, practices, games, homework, etc. Now, close your eyes. You've entered a small, dark theater. It has started to rain. Before you, on a black platform, standing amid the glow of a single fight bulb is a man. As he talks about his career as an actor, he becomes animated his facial expressions exude the care he has for his profession, and his passion begins to fill the room with meaning. With absolute purpose, he reels you into his world, telling you the story of how he met his role model at an Academy Awards event. His words conjure pictures in your head of a long hallway fined with stars like Burt Lancaster and Stevie Wonder, as the story teller strolls with Sir Laurence Olivier at his side. The thunder now bolts from the sky, pounding the small theater, and yet you cannot move., you are mesmerized. You come away on a high, sensing that this man has something so special, so critical, that you want some, too.

Open your eyes. This man is Ira David Wood, founder and director of Theatre In the Park in Raleigh, N.C. The experience is called Leadership by Inspiration." You've been exposed to a powerfully dynamic individual, a truly inspiring leader. And you will never forget this moment.

"Leadership by Inspiration" is a one-day event that is part of an eight-month leadership-development program designed for high school athletes. Communities all over the United States have organized leadership programs to educate would-be politicians, build leadership skills in young corporate executives and bring a sense of citizen responsibility to youth. So it makes sense that this would work just as well with athletes, right?

The answer is: Yes, it does.

On the coast of North Carolina, in the small beach community of Morehead City, we are "raising role-model athletes." And, we're doing it through a program called Carteret Sports Leadership. As executive director of the Havelock Chamber of Connnerce, I began a youth leadership program in Havelock four years ago. Then, realizing the need for athletes, I worked with businessman Cass Flowers to restructure the existing model and produce a pilot program at a local high school. The program took 20 sophomore and junior athletes through a series of hands-on programming that helps the athletes understand the unique spotlight they are in and the responsibility of being a good role model.

A Lou Harris survey a few years ago indicated that middle and high school students look to athletes to get their messages on life. We simply want better role models for our children to emulate.

The program involves experiences designed specifically to use as many of the participants, senses as possible. When they can see it, feel it hear it and smell it then a memory is created, and a memory means they'll have a recall. Student athletes in the program participate in police ride-alongs and mock city-council meetings, they solve community problems and tutor and coach elementary students. They meet inspiring leaders in various fields and are matched with mentors whose friendship provides another bridge for transitioning from school to work. Just before graduation, the student athletes face their fans and together develop a job description for rolemodel athletes that becomes a contract signed by athletes and fans. It hangs in the high school gym as a reminder.

So, does it really work? A researcher and a psychologist who implemented a professional process of measurement discovered that 71 percent of those in the program this year said that participation had changed their attitudes toward school. Of those, T percent said they had personal-growth experiences. Eighty-three percent of the participants whose post-high school plans were affected by the program expressed long-term quality gains. One hundred percent of the students said they were more likely to take an active role to make changes in the community, and 100 percent said they felt they were more a leader now than before participation in the program. And, as further confirmation, our graduates have been chosen to run the Olympic torch, are playing international soccer, winning academic and athletic honors, attending leadership conferences, running for student-body president and collectively becoming a recognized "voice of youth" for the city.

So, you might ask, if this program is as great as it sounds, why isn't it being developed in other areas? Keep your fingers crossed. A representative for Jerry Stackhouse, star player for the Philadelphia 76errs, acknowledges serious interest in our working together on a potential adoption and expansion of this program. Jerry has a vision for helping others, and that has everything to do with something his parents were particularly good at - raising a role-model athlete.