Positive development

Jason Simcoe / Culpeper Star Exponent
Published: August 18, 2007

Gary Leake has had enough.

The Highland School athletic director is tired of reading about dogfights and gambling scandals on the sports pages. He's tired of high school coaches obsessing over wins and losses.

So Leake is making some changes at Highland.

"We are not a win-at-all-costs program," he said. "Our philosophy is trying to build good citizens and use sports as a spring board for lessons in life."

Developing a plan
Leake had a vision for the Highland athletic programs. This summer, he created a new program that to develop Highland players as complete student-athletes.

Leake recruited some help to get the program rolling. He called America's student success coach, Rodney Saunders.

Saunders works in partnership with the Positive Coaching Alliance, a California-based group dedicated to the personal growth of athletes and coaches. In conjunction with the group, Leake and the Highland athletic department are instituting a four-step program to foster the growth of student athletes.

"We want to develop our kids in a year-round program. Off the field is just as important to us as on the field," Leake said. "This is character development. This is leadership development."

Setting the plan in motion
Thirty eight Highland athletes headed back to school a few days early Thursday. The group of juniors and seniors had been preselected as captains for their teams. They met at the school for a captain's leadership workshop.

The athletic director talked to the group, outlining their responsibilities. Leake also heard input from the students about the development of a new athletic department mission statement, one that stresses personal development.

Then he handed the group off to Saunders.

For almost 90 minutes, Saunders led a seminar designed to bring out the best in the captains. Through a series of interactive discussions, he detailed what it meant to be a leader and a competitor.

"You guys were selected because you understand it's about making yourself better, making the team better and making the game better," he told the group.

The talk hit home. Afterwards, the athletes were eager to take what they've learned back to their teams.

"I thought waking up this morning I would dread it and it would be horrible, but he was a good speaker and kept everyone active," lacrosse player Joey Curran said. "(His ideas) are something we need to try to incorporate into the team and on the field."

Culpeper resident Sammi Magaro, a field hockey and lacrosse player, left with a new appreciation of the responsibilities she's taken on as a captain.

"You really need to work on just supporting your teammates," she said. "It's not about you. It's not about a certain player. It's about the team as a whole."

Not quite finished
Thursday's workshop was just one piece of the puzzle. The athletic department staff already attended a workshop designed to help them understand their roles in developing the student-athlete. Similar workshops are planned for Highland coaches and parents.

The captains will also have a higher level of visibility around the school thanks to the Captains' Club, a group developed to emphasize leadership. The group will work on several projects through the year, including planning for homecoming and a Christmas community service project.

It's all in the hope of developing athletes into more than a star player.

"What they're going to get from this program is lessons from life that they can take beyond the sports," Leake said. "When they're finished playing sports at the high school or college level, theyhave to have something to fall back on."

Jason Simcoe can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 166 or