Secondary Athletics Leadership

Good players inspire themselves. Great players inspire each other.

- Author Unknown

Course Description

Our Secondary Athletics program at OELC focuses on developing students’ leadership skills through the medium of athletics. The ideal candidate is a student with an interest in athletics but does not have to be a “star” athlete.  The candidate would be a student with leadership potential who is willing to learn about themselves, about others and how to apply their skills in their school and/or community. Students will have the ability to connect with students from around the province to exchange ideas that can make their schools and communities a better place to be.

Leadership Development Sessions

Specific leadership development sessions give students opportunities to explore various components of leadership: leadership styles, effective communication, group dynamics, problem-solving, organizational skills, and risk-taking in a non-threatening and encouraging environment and through well-planned experiential learning activities.  Students will have the opportunity to apply many of these skills as they put on an activity for the entire Centre.

Opportunities for debriefing and reflection contribute greatly to the personal growth of students. Through the skilled facilitation of our teachers, often the greatest learning is reinforced through the analysis of elements which contribute to or detract from the success of an activity or challenge.

Sport Activity Sessions

 The activity sessions involve team and individual sports, low ropes challenges, and intramural/tournament organizational sessions. These activities are intended to provide the students with leadership opportunities through peer support, skill development, and reflection on instructional and team-building techniques with the goal of gaining confidence to apply some of these strategies within their own context.

Special Topics

 Round Table: Students will develop topics and then lead the discussion in this very powerful student voice session.  The goal of the session is to allow students to speak freely about their issues that greatly affect them.  At the end, students create 1-3 action statements that can affect change in the lives of themselves and others.

Special Activities:  These events are run by our amazing teacher facilitators.  Each event is designed to introduce students to something new and get away from the normal everyday events that could be running within their schools.  From orientation days to new intramural games, to a crazy gym riots and theme days, students will find new activities that will help enhance the participation at their school and in their community.