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| Junior Jane Garrity performing a core exercise during preseason fitness testing (photo credit: Jamie Powell) |
On the surface, preseason fitness testing seems straightforward -- be in shape to play volleyball. But consider this story from last week:
Fredonia hired a new Vice President of Student Affairs this summer, Dr. Cedric Howard. Overseeing athletics, and second in command only to the university's president, he'll be my boss's, boss's, boss. Of all people, I was lucky enough to get a 30-minute meeting with him last week in his office.
He's brilliant, eloquent, passionate about higher education, and he'd like to see athletics become a major source of enthusiasm on our campus. He encouraged me to articulate what I thought athletics does for our students.
This is more difficult than it seems. Coaches have an intuitive sense that playing a sport is integral to a young person's development, but we don't generally have concrete proof. I stumbled through my words, referring to improved GPA's and athletic abilities.
It got harder when I tried to talk about developing resilience in our athletes. I could only cite numerous case studies as proof of how athletes change in their four years. Dr. Howard nodded with understanding, and responded:
"You're another person teaching them to persevere."
That conclusion, at once obvious yet elusive, summed up precisely what I was trying to say. It reminded me of Carol Dweck's description of a fixed versus a growth mindset:
It seems indisputable. "Of course I want a growth mindset," we say. But when we peer through our biases, the frequency with which we regress into a fixed mindset is unnerving. For some of us it's the status quo, as we fight tooth and nail to stay within our comfort zones.
It might be that athletics is simply a means to move from fixed to growth, slowly, gradually, and perhaps without even realizing it. If we define college as a motivation to pursue lifelong learning, athletics is an impetus towards a lifelong growth mindset.
Preseason fitness tests now become metaphors for something entirely different.