UHSAA Leadership Summit

Thank you for showing up. That is always the hardest part. This is an approach and a training we have never really done before. Innovation is always uncomfortable and usually required by necessity in extreme situations. We are excited about the possibilities but recognize addressing our current problems is and will not be easy. Thank you!

- Jan Whitaker, Assistant Director UHSAA

Sportsmanship

Good Sportsmanship is a result of effective Self Leadership

The Current State of Sportsmanship in High School Athletics

Statistics

• 60% witnessed or participated in negative or abusive sideline behavior

• PARENTS: 26% witnessed verbally abusive coach, 16% witnessed physical confrontation between parents

• COACHES: 55% experienced parents yelling negatively at officials or their own kids, 40% experienced parents yelling negatively at other kids. - Liberty Mutual Sportsmanship Survey

• The shortage of officials in high school – and middle school – sports has been a growing concern for several years – in large part due to unsportsmanlike behavior by parents and other adult fans. - nfhs.org

UHSAA Mission

The organization is committed to stressing educational and cultural values, improving the participation experience in activities, promoting life skills and lessons involved in competitive activities, fostering sportsmanship and mutual respect and assisting those who oversee high school sports and activities in UHSAA member high schools

The Top 4 Obstacles

1. Negative attitudes: Decreased participation numbers. Apathy from students,parents,coaches. Lack of investment and engagement. Keeping kids motivated, committed, eligible. Lack of grit.

2. Bad behavior: From student sections, fans, and coaches. Lack of empathy towards others. Differences in student expectation between schools.

3. Lack of finances and resources: Included in that would be: finding and keeping good coaches, lack of supervision (man power), lack of money and time.

4. Always putting out a fire: Always dealing with a crisis, things fall apart, always dealing with an unexpected crisis.

Intro to Self leadership, mental health, & Flow

The complexities that we face today require individuals and organizations to be increasingly aware of each person individually and each element in the organization. Instead of simply leading from the front, student and adult leaders need to connect with members of their teams and organizations in a way that has never been required before.

rock Climbing & rappelling

The activity to “FEEL” some of the things we were “TALKING” about.

student leadership training options

The “Super Hero” option of the training

Intro & Positioning:
For all of human history, we have always been drawn to stories of superheroes and their superhuman abilities to save regular humans in many crisis situations. Recent research has uncovered what some call “super human” powers and it isn’t on a distant planet. Is it possible that there really is someone that can save us from the ever complicated pain and problems we face in society today? Can kindness and compassion really be part of our super powers?

Additional Resources & Research

The Nature of the “Core Self” (True Self)

• Internal Family Systems and True Self w/Dick Schwartz Ph.D.

  • https://instituteofcoaching.org/resources/webinar-coaching-inside-out-how-internal-family-systems-can-deepen-your-work 

• If you want to dig deeper into IFS…

  • https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/internal-family-systems-therapy 

The Flow State

• Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology

  • Flow state and Research - https://books.google.com/books?id=6IyqCNBD6oIC&lpg=PA195&ots=INF5SHXcsE&dq=flow%20state%20research&lr&pg=PA196#v=onepage&q=flow%20state%20research&f=false 

• Nine Components Associated with the Flow State

  • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7551835/ 

• The Science of Peak Human Performance - Time Magazine

  • https://time.com/56809/the-science-of-peak-human-performance/ 

• The Psychology and Theory Behind Flow - Positive Psychology

  • https://positivepsychology.com/theory-psychology-flow/ 

Mindfulness

• UCLA
  https://www.uclahealth.org/marc/research

  • Decreases anxiety, depression, rumination, and emotional reactivity. 

  • Increases well-being, positive affect, and concentration.

  • Improves immune system function, quality of sleep

  • Improves attention, emotional regulation, empathy, and bodily awareness.

  • Business & Education: improved communication and work performance, social-emotional skills, executive functions, and decreased test stress in students, as well as reduced stress and burnout in teachers.
    

• APA (American Psychological Association)
  https://www.uclahealth.org/marc/research

  • “self-regulation practices that focus on training attention and awareness in order to bring mental processes under greater voluntary control and thereby foster general mental well-being and development and/or specific capacities such as calmness, clarity and concentration (Walsh & Shapiro, 2006).”

• USC Center for Mindfulness Science
  https://mindfulscience.usc.edu/active-research/

  • Effect of mindfulness on attention, awareness, and well-being..