Leadership Institute inspires Blue Devil student-athletes

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MADISON (June 12, 2019) - Six UW-Stout student-athletes were among 48 participants to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Leadership Institute this past spring. The students from the eight WIAC schools learned techniques to inspire their teammates, how to deal with conflict management and other aspects of leadership.

The purpose of the institute, held April 11-12 at the American Family Insurance corporate headquarters in Madison, was to bring together student-athletes from each of the eight WIAC institutions to learn from and interact with recognized experts in leadership.  The programming focused on those skills and attributes that will help transform the attendees into our future business, community and civic leaders and, most importantly, leaders in life.  The group also participated in a community service activity at the Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin.

The Leadership Institute gave student-athletes an opportunity to not only meet and interact with student-athletes from other schools, but from their own school. 

Students participating from UW-Stout included: Brooke Terry (Jr, Erie, Colo), Liz Oswald (So, Watertown), Sarah Dickmann (Jr, Shawano), Jon Ciriacks (So, East Troy), Lucas Carroll (So, East Bethel, Minn) and Levy Hamer (Fr, Chicago, Ill). Each of the student-athletes was nominated by their respective head coaches to attend the institute. UW-Stout head football coach Clayt Birmingham attended and served as an adviser to the Stout team. 

The Stout group knew few student-athletes from the other schools and, for the most part, had only casual acquaintances with each other before attending the institute.

"I didn't know any of the other athletes that attended the institute from these schools or even the other athletes chosen from Stout," Ciriacks, a member of the Blue Devil men's basketball team, said. "The trip down to Madison and the two days that we spent there created relationships with the student-athletes from Stout."

"To me, one of the coolest parts was meeting my fellow leaders from UW-Stout," said Dickmann, a member of the Blue Devil soccer team. "I did not know a single one before leaving for the conference and we all clicked instantly - six new faces and we all became very good friends. Laughed harder than ever, and spent time getting to know each other and learning about each others sports and not only their issues, but their strengths."

Oswald, a member of the Blue Devil women's basketball team, and Terry, a member of the Blue Devil gymnastics team, recognized several student-athletes from other schools they have competed against over the last few years.

"I knew three of the representatives at the institute through the gymnastics community," Terry said. "The teams in our league interact at conference and national meets so it was nice to see familiar faces. Getting to know how other sports experience collegiate athletics was interesting. There was a mutual understanding of the highs and lows that sports offer, and getting to share our team's experiences with the other representatives was very inspiring."

"I didn't know anyone from other schools at the institute," Carroll, who plays hockey and runs track, said. "We all were mixed up upon entering the institute so that no two people from the same school sat at the same table. That allowed us to talk about our schools, sports, and life experiences in general." 

In addition to interacting with student-athletes from the other WIAC schools, students were able to learn more about themselves and their leadership styles the the DISC Assessment survey.

"One of my favorite activities about the leadership conference was the DISC assessment, learning more about myself and others behaviors and how to interact in an efficient and effective way was very interesting," Oswald said.

DISC is a behavior assessment tool based on the DISC theory of psychologist William Moulton Marston, which centers on four different personality traits which are currently Dominance, Influence (I), Steadiness, and Conscientiousness.

"We answered a short questionnaire that was used to analyze our personalities," Carroll said. "The program then categorized us based on our personalities into different leadership types. The questionnaire took only ten minutes, yet the summary of my personality was extremely accurate, almost scary accurate."

"We were split into groups with people with the same letter as us, whether that be D,I,S,C.," Dickmann said.  "From there we were asked to answer a few questions on a piece of paper, and we immediately realized we were ALL the same. We thought the same, we shared the same strengths and weaknesses, scary enough. To me, that was one of the most jaw dropping moments of the whole trip. It was fun and exciting and I never thought I would meet so many people like me."

"Team Norms" was a topic of discussion that struck a cord with several of the Stout participants. 

"I enjoyed the discussion on "team norms" and how they should be applicable to life and then they will be applicable to your team," Oswald said. 

"I learned if you focus on setting goals that lead to a successful and sound life first, the athletic success will follow, as long as everyone holds each other accountable," Carroll said.  "We were told to set team norms, decided upon by the team, and uphold those norms throughout the season. Its not easy. Some teammates may not like it, but eventually it weeds out those who want to buy into a winning culture and those who don't. When everyone is pulling on the same rope, you'll have the best chance of winning. I'll use that philosophy on the ice, on the track, and later on team projects in my career."

All of the attendees participated in a large-group activity with the Second Harvest Food Bank in Madison.

"We helped pack and sort out food for people who were in need in the Madison area," Ciriacks said.  "This gave us a different perspective of the life we are living as student athletes and how fortunate we are."

"Overall it (the Institute) was a great experience that gave me a different perspective on leadership," Carroll said. "I feel I will be able to use the different strategies I learned in my sports, in the classroom, and ultimately my career."

The biggest takeaway that I had was there are different types of leaders that interact differently with many types of people," Ciriacks said. "There is not one definition of the perfect leader, but that we must adapt to the others around us.  I am trying to bring this thought process to my teammates."

With spring practices underway when the group returned to Stout, Dickmann was able to immediately apply what she learned.

"(During the discussions) I gained the knowledge of learning how to deal with people different than me, especially in times of conflict," Dickmann said. "And I immediately started applying it to the way I lead my team as a captain when I arrived back to Stout and I saw results immediately."