Focus, Discipline and Work Ethic
It was so alarming to listen to several speakers at the recent ABCA National Coaching Convention talking about college athletes and the increasingly devastating impact of lack of mental focus, discipline and time management skills. Clearly, student athletes who excel in those areas are more successful in both the classroom and in their sport. The opposite is also true and coaches are pointing to the huge need for student athletes to do everything within their power to improve their skills in time management, mental focus and discipline. Coaches are stating that it is becoming such a problem that many students are losing their opportunity to compete at the collegiate level.
When I told coaches that I was part of an educational program ( PACE ) that is actively addressing this problem they became immediately interested. As part of an exciting educational initiative in School District 71 ( Comox Valley ) in British Columbia, Canada we have developed a series of online courses aimed at helping student athletes organize their busy lives around their academic and athletic goals. ( see www.navigatepace.com ) Let’s face it, student athletes are extremely busy and face challenges and pressures that most students do not. Our goal is to make the education system work “for” student athletes. Each of the courses embraces the key elements that student athletes need to excel at the collegiate level. Study skills, planning, time management, appropriate use of technology and mental and emotional focus are all embedded into the content of each course. These are all areas that academic advisors have pinpointed as being major challenges for new recruits to collegiate life.
