Empowering Student Captains with Leadership and Sportsmanship

Submitted by lana.hiskey on

On January 8, 2015, Nebo School District held the Captain's Academy on leadership and sportsmanship. Winter Captains’ Academy is held three times each year and includes  captains from high school and junior high school including: boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, wrestling, boys’ swimming, girls’ swimming, drill team, band, and student council.

Nebo School District’s athletic coordinator, Everett Kelepolo, said, “Our mission is to teach the value of competition, improve the athletic skill, and develop sportsmanship. We hope through the Captain’s Academy that we can help students, coaches, and administrators understand the impact we can have on leadership and sportsmanship throughout our district and state.” 

Athletic coordinator Everett Kelepolo and Superintendent Rick Nielsen started the academy by welcoming student leaders from 12 schools across Nebo School District.

Payson High School’s athletic director, Brian Argyle, led a discussion on “What is a leader?” Then the students worked in groups to answer the questions, “What is a leader?” and “What is the role of a captain?”

All of the Student Captains sit at individual tables with their peers from other high schools. They listen to each presenter and then work collaboratively to present back to the entire group their position and ideas. 

Cathi Jarvis, athletic director, at Springville High and also the current Athletic Director of the Year for the state of Utah, introduced “Sportsmanship”. The students worked in groups again to answer the questions, “How can we as leaders instill sportsmanship at our school?” and “How can we instill better sportsmanship at our school?”

The keynote speech was given by Roger Reid, former college and NBA Basketball coach. His motivating speech was the highlight of the morning. Many of the captains could be heard saying that the academy was inspiring.

A big thank you to Laura Salazar, Communications Director at Intermountain Healthcare, for the delicious lunch provided for the captains and leaders.

Attributions
Lana Hiskey