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| Senior captain Sara Madison, summer 2015 (photo credits: Jesse Walker) |
Four ideas that have been helpful for our athletes in defining what summer training is for:
Be prepared, not just for your own sake
Athletes tend to conform to the expectations of those around them. When you come into preseason well-conditioned, everyone sees it. When you come into preseason out of shape, everyone sees it. People mimic the behavior they see.
Taking ownership of your preparation is a choice that has long-term value. When an upperclassman has clearly done everything she can to prepare, regardless of how talented she is, the freshmen see that. They're now more likely to do the same in the future.
It's a cycle, and you get to choose what direction it goes in.
Call (text) the freshmen
My favorite preseason "test" at Fredonia is when we put our players in groups of two or three over the summer and require they talk once a week. They usually choose to text, which is fine, but they need to be able to pass a quiz on their partner(s) when they come to preseason.
The best part is that the freshmen are being welcomed into the program before they even step on campus.
Picking up your phone and calling (or texting) an incoming freshman would probably mean the world to her. And again, the freshmen are likely to do the same by the time they're seniors.
(h/t to Calvin's Amber Warners)
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| Junior Courtney Poirier |
Beach volleyball is the fastest-growing NCAA sport. One, because it's new, but two, because it's fun.
Nik Fattey started a summer hockey league in 2005 for high-level players at the Harbor Center in Buffalo. A decade later, the Fattey Hockey League (FHL) is considered one of the most enjoyable destinations for top pro, college, high school, and amateur players to play over the summer (yes, high school players get to play with the likes of Patrick Kane).
A swimmer at Fredonia this year dropped six seconds in his 100-yard backstroke from his freshman to sophomore year. That's considered an enormous improvement. When his coach asked him what he did over the summer his response was, "I played touch football."
Play, as neuroscience has recently been proving, is what binds us together as a species.
Nurture your relationships
I just finished listening to an interview with David Isay, the founder of StoryCorps. StoryCorps is a radio show that interviews Americans of all backgrounds, usually two at a time, and preserves their stories as a piece of American history.
Isay describes StoryCorps as a space where two people can come together and say what they need to before it's too late:
"The four things you say to someone who is dying are, "thank you," "I love you," "forgive me," "I forgive you." And that's a conversation people want to have before they die. And I think what's happening in StoryCorps is that you have the opportunity to have that conversation now. We're all dying, I guess."After four years of college, it will probably be the same people you're with now that you have to have those conversations with.