Putting the student in student-athlete

We ask a lot out of our student-athletes at Lakeland. We ask them to put in an incredible amount of time each week in practices and game preparation, workouts, departmental community service programs and game days.  This is all on top of going to class, working on projects, homework and deciding what careers they would like to have for the rest of their lives.

Working alongside our student-athletes are incredible role models and mentors in our coaches and athletic staff.  Many times I joke with our coaches that I wished that they had more time to be a coach.  NCAA Division III coaches, in addition to their game day responsibilities of coaching, are counselors, tutors, recruiters, fundraisers and perform numerous other roles. We have a great coaching staff at Lakeland, and I'm honored to watch them prepare our students for wins on the field/court/mat, but also in life.

Head Men's Basketball Coach working with a student-athlete in a one-on-one setting.

All too often my job focuses on the next challenge facing the management of a highly competitive NCAA Division III athletic program, but it's times like the one captured in the photo above that reminds me of the importance of the work that I, and our coaches, perform.  We are blessed to be able to affect the trajectory of our student-athlete's lives, and the life victories are the most important victories we can accomplish.

We'll celebrate an academic victory on Tuesday, Oct. 14, with our women's volleyball team as we recognize the 2013-2014 squad for its American Volleyball Coaches Association team academic award from last year. 

The award is given out to teams that have a cumulative team grade point average of at least 3.30.  What a stunning display of hard work and dedication by our student-athletes in the program.  It will be an exciting night of volleyball, and a great way to celebrate academic success as well.  I hope to see you on campus Tuesday night at 7:00pm for our game against MSOE.