Supporting Student Athletes

[00:01] Announcer:

Welcome to Principal Center Radio, helping you build capacity for instructional leadership. Here's your host, Director of the Principal Center, Dr. Justin Bader. Welcome, everyone, to Principal Center Radio.

[00:13] SPEAKER_00:

I'm honored to welcome to the program today Dr. Michael Lehan. Dr. Leehan is head of school at IMG Academy, a former NFL cornerback with the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns. He served as principal of Osseo Senior High School, which then became ranked as one of the best high schools in the nation by US News and World Report, and was subsequently named the Minnesota High School Principal of the Year and served as assistant superintendent in Osseo area schools. At IMG, he oversees, organizes, and grows the world-renowned school's academic programs, as well as its specialized

[00:46] Announcer:

athletic programs and now our feature presentation michael welcome to principal center radio thank you so much for having me today honored to be on here with you well i'm excited to speak with you about the needs of a large group of our students you say in a recent article that 57 of students are student athletes what are some of the needs and maybe some of the misconceptions that we have about student athletes

[01:12] SPEAKER_01:

We can certainly talk about student athletes and we can talk about just students in general. And I think oftentimes as we think about just students in general or young people in general, we have these mental models around who they are, what their capacities might be. As we think about and centering student athletes, oftentimes there's this notion of, oh, they're jocks or they've been given a free pass because they can run fast or jump high. But in reality, they're young people. And when we work with young people, we know that there's needs. And we know that as we think about just the Maslow hierarchy of needs, right, you know, safety and security and to feel loved, to be validated and all of these things.

[01:47]

And so oftentimes we want to contextualize student athletes as people who are elite or popular or whatever the case might be, sometimes forgetting the essence of their being and who they are and what's critically important to them. And so what we do here at IMG Academy is really that holistic development of the young person to say that, hey, we see you as who you are and we believe in where you can go. How might we be able to build and bring about all these services, all these supports to help and walk alongside you on this journey? Also, while making sure that we deconstruct any sort of mental models that we might have, Because we service a broad breadth of young, brilliant scholars, and we're excited about that. And so, you know, as we think about just what are those needs, we think about the basic elements of what human needs are and try to deliver individual and be responsive to that individual and their families to provide a remarkable, world-renowned experience.

[02:45] SPEAKER_00:

I appreciate what you said about the importance of seeing kind of the whole person, seeing people holistically. Why do you think there is such a tendency for adults to see student athletes in particular so one-dimensionally? Because I think this is probably a common experience for students, and maybe parents have seen this as well, that the academic potential might be downplayed, the interests might be downplayed. Everything can tend to be about athletics, especially when a student is extremely talented or when they have some sort of exceptional ability. Why as adults do we fall into that trap of not seeing the whole student?

[03:19] SPEAKER_01:

Well, I think there's a few things, right? Sometimes we see the world, there's a quote that says, we see the world not as it is, but as we are. And so we've been conditioned about what our normative set of values, what our social construct has been. And if we went to a high school where they celebrate athletics, if you think about a school, I don't need to look any further about a school to learn about an organization because they celebrate what they value. If you see a lot of celebrations from an academic standpoint, we know that they celebrate academics. If you see a lot of celebrations around athletic standpoint, we know that they value athletics.

[03:52]

And so there is a danger of a single story of this notion of saying, hey, you know what? They can only be this or they can only be that. They can't be a duality of two and multiple different things. And we want to make sure that we contextualize that way of thinking, that we can put forth dynamic leaders. As you think about some of the leaders in the Fortune 500 companies, many of them were former athletes engaged. And why is that?

[04:16]

Because when we have young people that have the chance to interact and interface with people All walks of life, all different dimensions, we know that they're going to challenge perspectives. They're going to engage in meaningful discourse, productive discourse, to be able to see things through a different lens, a different perspective, and engage people potentially otherwise they wouldn't be able to do so.

[04:36] SPEAKER_00:

Well, Michael, one thing I wanted to get your perspective on since your school is on the forefront of both elite athletics and elite academics is this idea of what happens after. Because as every athlete knows, there is a fixed window of time or at least a somewhat limited window of time in which competing as an athlete can be a viable career. And then people have to kind of think what they're doing beyond that. And I think for those of us in the majority of schools, we deal with the reality that most of our student athletes are never going to be professionals. athletes. Not true in the case of your school necessarily.

[05:09]

Some of our students might get college scholarships, but there's this whole environment of expectation and of striving for something that is extremely competitive. And I think a lot of us in this profession worry about what happens to students when there is a single-minded pursuit of of a goal that is very, very difficult to attain and what happens to students when they fail to attain that goal. For example, if they really, really want to play professional sports and they don't get that opportunity, or if they really, really want to get college scholarship, they do their very best, but they don't get that opportunity. Help us think about doing good for all students, knowing that there are a limited number of spots in our society, both at the professional and at the college level.

[05:51] SPEAKER_01:

So I think sometimes there's that ultimate goal and then there's incremental wins. And we have to become more aware to celebrate and more in tune to celebrate incremental wins rather than that aspirational wins. One of the things I talked about earlier, you referenced the article of the 74, and I talked about kind of three different things. And I talked about to understand and to help make sure that the young person kind of knows who they are. And that's really just asking, like, who are you really? And if that first response to that question is essentially, I'm a defensive back and I'm number 39 and I play for whatever team.

[06:26]

There's an issue. I didn't ask what you do, right? I didn't ask what your hobby or what sport you play. I asked, who are you really? And so if people are defining themselves by their extracurricular activity, therein lies a problem. And then as adults, if we iterate and we identify somebody, oh, you're that person that plays cornerback or whatever the case might be, I've lost my identity or my identity has been minimized.

[06:49]

The second thing I ask is, what do you stand for? Like, who are you and what do you stand for? And if somebody can articulate that I stand with this, then I know that they have a purpose that they are operating with on a day-to-day basis. My father used to say, if you don't stand for something, that you'll fall for anything. And so what is your purpose that you're standing on? And then how do you know what your values are?

[07:10]

And how have you been challenged? What places and opportunities have you been placed where your values have been stretched or been challenged to say that you have to show up in that space? And so certainly it's critical as we think about what happens when people don't achieve goals. But really what I was just trying to articulate is that there's identity development that's critically important. As we think about what sort of educational opportunities we're putting forth for people as we think about what sort of introductions we're making with young people, with adults across all walks of lives. Hopefully then they'll see reflections of themselves.

[07:43]

We aspire to be things that we see on TV or social media or whatever the case might be. the more humanity that we put in front of young people and they can see a reflection of themselves. Therein lies that opportunity to see themselves in multiple different ways, not a singular way that's been celebrated because that's a place of convenience.

[08:02] SPEAKER_00:

Michael, you talked about the importance of kind of goals along the way or of multiple goals. What do you see as a great life outcome for a student athlete? As parents, we dream big for our kids. We see the sky as the limit and really don't want to put any ceiling on the potential of our students. And we imagine them succeeding at the highest levels. You know, again, knowing that not everybody is going to go pro, what are some of the best life outcomes that you believe in optimizing for?

[08:31]

And that is as parents and educators that we should be also emphasizing in addition to student success at academics and in athletics.

[08:40] SPEAKER_01:

As I think about the best life outcome, I really think. about how we have introduced cognitive dissonance to ensure that the young person knows how to think critically, act morally, and then show up authentically. What I think happens more often than not, based on normative structures or societal structures, is that we either hide behind a screen or a keyboard or social media and we take up this disposition that is not who we truly are. And there's elements of self that's lost. So I think the best that we can do is challenge one's being so that unequivocally they know who they are and why they act and why they show up in the manner that they do. I think that's a life goal.

[09:28]

I think that's a life practice. And I think from an educational standpoint to introduce discourse productive discourse inside the classroom, to introduce meaningful dialogue, to have a student present on a topic that they may not morally align with, but to what extent are they able to see a different perspective, a different viewpoint, and appreciate that. So then the roots which they have on their viewpoint are going to grow deeper and deeper. So I think those are some opportunities right there.

[09:57] SPEAKER_00:

And two specific benefits that come to mind from what you just said are, first, success in college. That's precisely what it takes to succeed academically in college. And then, of course, that opens many more doors when students graduate from college. And second, that seems to open the door to a pivot. If we come to some turning point in our lives and realize, oh, this particular plan is not the one for me, or this is not going to work out, I need to do something else, we're much more ready to to make those pivots when we have that sense of self that sense of what we stand for that experience grappling with unfamiliar ideas versus if we have a kind of a tunnel vision focus on one goal and that's the only plan there's no backup plan there's no resilience or readiness to change plans i think that can be very disorienting for young people and you know we see that even among non-athletes you know when students change their major one of the things i saw as a science major is

[10:49]

There are a number of classes in science programs at the university level that are kind of designed to be weed out classes, that if you don't pass this particular chemistry class or advanced math class, you're probably not going to be on the track to go to medical school. And I was pre-med briefly, but not for very long. And just seeing the kind of identity crisis that it prompted in some of my classmates who would fail a class and then realize, oh, maybe I'm not pre-med anymore. What do I do with my life? We want people to encounter those situations ready to handle them, ready to not just fall apart, but ready to make the best decision for them at that time. Talk to us a little bit, if you could, about the partnership between educators and parents, because this is a lot for young people to navigate, to pursue a goal vigorously, but also strive to have other plans and other forms of their identity.

[11:35]

How do we work together as educators and parents to send the right messages to our children?

[11:43] SPEAKER_01:

So one of the things that you said, just want to go back to, you talked about ability to pivot. Because I think about pivot and really that notion of advocacy. I think about agency, right? And I think about when somebody can pivot, they have a sense of agency about themselves, right? That they're not feeling put upon that now I can only do this. but I have agency, I have voice, I have choice, I have opportunities that they are taking up and executing on.

[12:07]

So I think that is a critical element too that I just want to celebrate and reiterate that pivot notion and that agency that comes along with it. As we think about the collaboration or partnership between educators, and parents working together, it's critical. Certainly there's research out there that will illuminate and talk about when there's parent involvement, the overall success of young people grows exponentially. Here at IMG Academy, we wear many different hats. We obviously have a boarding opportunity here and of which we have about 850 students and scholars that do board. And the partnerships that we have with family, with parents, but then also The relationship that school has with the dorm parents is critically important.

[12:53]

At the end of the day, there's a TED talk that talks about every child needs a champion. The more champions that we can have for our young people, whether that be dorm parents, whether that be coaches, whether that be leadership staff, our APD staff, whether that be our teachers, hopefully we believe from this holistic, again, approach and this comprehensive approach, that there are so many adults that know this student and can sing their praises that we are going to grow who they are and the way that they see themselves. So I think that here at IMG, we offer a really unique opportunity and a more nuanced scholar, parent, nucleus type of dynamic. And I think that the more people we can have to support that journey ultimately is going to be more critical. But traditionally, yes, it's critically important to have a meaningful partnership with parents and with family, because then at the end of the day, what my goals might be for the student may be different from the parent's goals.

[13:51]

And at the end of the day, if I am seeing something that hopefully resonates with the young person, but the parent is trying to find that connection, we might be able to partnership. If I need to have historical context so we don't do any unintended harm, There's intent and then there's impact. We all have good intent, but at times the impact of the intent is not so favorable. So that partnership helps reveal inherent blind spots that we always carry.

[14:17] SPEAKER_00:

Well, Michael, one obvious benefit of students' participation in athletics is just the experience of working together on a team. And certainly we've all had our share of class group projects that did not really feel like good teamwork. And perhaps some of our best school experiences of teamwork are in athletics. And we know that's certainly good preparation for the working world and just the world of adulthood in general, whether in a professional capacity or a volunteer capacity, often we're called upon to work as part of a team, or for a cause. Talk to us a little bit about your approach to developing teams and how that translates from athletic teams into the classroom as well.

[14:57] SPEAKER_01:

So the concept of teams is really unique. And I think teams provide an opportunity for us to reevaluate our lens in the way in which we see the world. I often think about a frame of reference and essentially a frame of reference is you take a picture frame or take a piece of paper, you fold it in half and you kind of tear out the center section and really you're left with a frame. And in that frame, you go and you walk around and you talk about your own identity, whether it be your gender, your race, your socioeconomic, all those things that make up your identity or who you are. You put it. on the outside of the frame.

[15:35]

And then you'll go and you talk to other people and you'll say, Hey, you know, how closely is our frame the line? And the notion is if you have one thing, you're only seeing somebody through a sliver of their frame, conversely of your frame, but the more. realities you share, that picture gets broader and broader. And so I think about a team is that opportunity to, I might have a belief about who this person is, but a team provides us to bring and see the commonalities that we have with somebody potentially that we wouldn't. And when we identify and we see their humanity and we see and identify those identities and commonalities that are similar, that opens the door for meaningful dialogue. And when meaningful dialogue happens, there's alignment that also then happens.

[16:23]

And then great things will happen. Why? Because you have different people from different point of views. And when there's diverse decisions and diverse people at a table, unique and profound decisions and outcomes are going to happen. So developing a team is really just that, is providing a safe space for the authentic individual to come forward and to share their ideas, make connections, and to celebrate the commonalities that make the team unit special.

[16:53] SPEAKER_00:

For a lot of us as parents who maybe don't have ambitions that our children will do things in the college or professional world of athletics, those abilities to work with one another, to understand one another, to get along with other people, to connect with other people and work together effectively, I think those are some of the best reasons for participation in team sports. Talk to us a little bit, if you could, about IMG's approach specifically because Because IMG is unusual in several respects. And I'd love to just get into that a little bit and talk about how you support the whole scholar athlete and maybe some takeaways for other schools.

[17:29] SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, Justin. And then going back to what you said, I think about sports as a life skill accelerator. That's really just what I think about. It doesn't need to be a professional aspiration or anything like that. But as you think about those life skills and you think about the essential virtuosities that you want young people to have and be able to demonstrate and put into practice, I think that's more often than not allows that. And the team is any sort of unit that we want to apply this notion or this qualifying description of.

[17:58]

And So I think it's great. Following up with your question as it relates to IMG. IMG, I think many people know and are aware of just the physical campus that we have here at Bradenton, Florida, but our reach extends beyond this physical campus. As we think about IMG Academy Plus, this is mental coaching that if I'm in Minnesota, for instance, I would be able to go and log in and work with a a mental coach and do have some nutrition we have ncsa online college recruiting platform so if i have an aspirational college or university that i want to go to i can work with some folks from ncsa and find that perfect match and i think that we just have a really diverse student body i also think that is a point of pride that is probably not talked about as much so think about the 2022 graduating class we had 38 different countries represented in our graduating class

[18:52]

So IMG Academy truly just brings a lot of unique opportunities. It extends. We are a global school. We are absolutely a global school. Going back to IMG Academy Plus, it's a digital offering, elite coaching that's similar to this, what you're going to experience here on our physical campus. Well, mental conditioning and nutrition and so forth.

[19:16]

So it's a really unique place. I always invite people to come and check it out. In doing so, I also encourage encourage them to think about what they believe they're going to see. And then when they leave to say, what did you really see? And let's have a conversation about that. We've got some brilliant young folks here that are incredibly passionate.

[19:33]

I'm incredibly thankful for our educators that we have, our coaches that we have, our mental coaches that we have. There's just a lot of people here that love and care for and want to see the very best out of our students. I appreciate the families for entrusting their young people, their most precious gift to us and growing them up to a place that they can go.

[19:56] SPEAKER_00:

Well, Dr. Michael Lehan, thank you so much for joining me on Principal Center Radio today. If people would like to go online to learn more about your school or about the online offerings that are available to students around the world, where's the best place for them to go?

[20:09] SPEAKER_01:

Go check out imgacademy.com and you'll see the full slate of services that we have there. Check out IMG Academy Plus. That's going to be a web-based as well as an app that you'll be able to interact with. And really, at the end of the day, we just want to make sure that the best and brightest have access to the resources to ensure that they can build and grow themselves and grow their brand and achieve their aspirational results and make sense for themselves.

[20:34] Announcer:

Thanks for listening to Principal Center Radio. For more great episodes, subscribe on our website at principalcenter.com slash radio.