The morning started with a workshop on listening and listing - the power of writing informatively and teaching others. The students participated in a beach ball activity to learn the skills one needs to play volleyball and then we watched a couple of intense matches. The kids listed areas they were good at and were instructed to offer others bulleted points of what they would need to be successful.
Coach Somera did the same: (1) You have to make the effort, (2) You have to have a positive attitude, (3) you have to connect with teammates, including a smile, (4) You have to be ready to rebound, (5) you have to listen, and finally (5) You have to compete for the win. She is on campus this week running a volleyball camp with some of her players, part of the tradition of Fairfield University opening campus to summer programs for young people. The collaboration simply made sense.
Students also read Kwame Alexander's "Rules for Basketball" from The Crossover, and are setting out to draft their own "Rule" poems after a day of team-building, writing workshops, reading, and visit with the athletic super woman (as superheroes are also a theme we're working on today).
Always happy to have community-engaged opportunities with others on campus, including the leaders of our athletic department. All of us together. We are who were are as the result of accompanying others. This is one of the greatest aspects of being at a Jesuit campus. Here's to coach, her players, and the young people who were mentored through this opportunity.
