Sept. 6, 2001

Imagine going to a world where you are one of 330 student-athletes. You are the only one representing your school so chances of you meeting anyone you know are slim. However, there seems to be a natural clique. You find it surprisingly simple to engage in a conversation with a complete stranger. You realize you know more about these people then you thought you did. These were my initial feelings when I was chosen to represent Villanova at the student-athlete NCAA Leadership Conference in Disney World. I had one week to not only learn names of many athletes, but to learn how to be a better leader, and be able to walk away with skills that I can share with the many other leaders at Villanova.

Each day in Disney world overflowed with an agenda that left me fatigued by the end of every day. The illogical impression that I had, thinking "I'm in Disney World how hard could it be" was the villain that left me victim to lassitude at the end of each day. However, this weariness did not phase me until the end of the week because the abundance of activity was too much to keep me thinking about sleep.

Organization was key on this week long trip. The NCAA provided each of us with binders filled with pages of things to do each day. Our week was mapped out for us hour by hour. A typical day consisted of a 7 am rise for breakfast, then a meeting starting right at 8 am. We were broken down into color teams, each team containing about 20 student-athletes. This made the introductions easier to remember. However the objective of the conference was to get to know as many individuals as you could by the end of the week, not just your color team. Each day we were give a chance to intermingle with NCAA representatives, administration, SAAC representatives, and other student-athletes. We were given chances to talk with the NCAA representatives about topics including Civility and Sportsmanship, Tolerance and Celebration of Difference, Dangerous Drinking, and Trust Gaps within Intercollegiate Athletics. Each large group discussion was followed by a debriefing session giving us all a chance to be involved. A day would not be complete until after eleven each evening.

Although making friends and connections between schools was important, the principle objective of this conference was to become a better leader and learn to work as a team with these new friends. Therefore we had to learn to trust each other, help each other, talk to each other, and use each other to help solve our problems that our schools may have. For this reason, a list server was established to enable any one of us to email everyone that went to the conference. Another arch objective of the conference is to organize our own self-directed project. Each student-athlete is to take a concern, problem, or issue from their school, and try to work with others in their school, as well as others from schools with similar problems, to solving the concern. One area of discussion at many of our SAAC meetings here at Villanova included the idea of athletes registering first. So I have chosen to collaborate with individuals from Villanova as well as other Big East schools, and find a way to allow this to follow through.

Some key moments from the conference that I have include the keynote speaker Billy Mills who was a 1964 Olympic Track and Field gold medallist. He delivered a speech about global unity and stressed the importance of having a dream. Along with Billy Mills, a memorable experience of mine includes each evening's conclusion for the day. To retire each day, there was an activity that was both entertaining and relevant to our experience at the conference. We were reminded during these events that we are a community, that when working together, is a mighty force.

I learned a great deal about myself and about being a better, more effective leader. The time I spent in Disney World I hope to share with the many leaders at Villanova so that we can all benefit from my experience, and not just me alone. After all, there are many of us that are "today's student-athletes and tomorrow's leaders" here at Villanova.