NWOAL ATHLETES … Athletes from all eight NWOAL schools meet and take a group picture while at the Leadership Conference in Archbold. (PHOTO BY JACOB KESSLER, STAFF)
By: Jacob Kessler
The Northwest Ohio Athletic League held a leadership conference with local students on Wednesday, December 1st. The conference took place at the Sauder Heritage Inn in Archbold and went from 9:30 a.m. to 1:50 p.m. Three female athletes and three male athletes from each participating school were chosen.
Each athlete is anywhere from the freshman level to the junior level and were accompanied by either coaches or their athletic director.
The students filed into the conference room and heard presentations from multiple area coaches and sports leaders. Introductions took place first followed by a school team challenge.
The players from each of the schools would compete against each other in team building exercises. Patrick Henry AD Ben George then gave a presentation to the athletes regarding Self-Branding – the 21st Century Leader and effects of social media.
Students were then able to ask the various coaches questions. The coaches on the panel were Greg Inselmann from Defiance/Patrick Henry Basketball, Dave Krauss from Patrick Henry Basketball, Doug Krauss from Archbold Basketball, Tim Meister from Bryan/Archbold Golf and Basketball, and Char Sharp from Archbold’s Volleyball, Basketball, and Track.
Each of these coaches spoke about their history with sports, what got them started and their love for the games. Each of these coaches hold a myriad of information and passion for the sports and it was shared freely with everyone involved.
The athletes were then given lunch before moving on to the second team building exercise of the day. This time, everyone was split up into mixed groups with people from the different schools making up the groups.
This was again, in order to help cement the team building aspect of it by exposing them to new people and still having to work together to achieve a goal. Bryan Athletic Director Chad Savage then gave a presentation about the Top 10 Savage Rules For Success In Life before the group started to wrap up for the day.
“This is our second one we have done. We did one in 2019, but not in 2020 because of COVID. We are just trying to build up leadership. We are trying to get them all to pick up some leadership traits to take back to their teams and their programs, and make a positive impact,” said Chad Savage.
All students present participated well and seemed happy to learn from the various coaches. With all the information given out, and the positive impact it creates, the hope is to hold the event again next year.
Jacob can be reached at jacob@thevillagereporter.com