The purpose of the focus group was to utilize peer group discussion among college coaches, athletic administrators, and CEOs to develop best practices for protecting and strengthening intercollegiate wrestling programs through this challenging economy. Specifically, the goal is to help coaches strengthen their CEO skills and better align their programs with educational values (i.e. improve eligibility and graduation rates, etc.).
Qualifying to receive a full scholarship to attend the NWCA Leadership Academy is predicated on completing the following three pre-requisites: online educational modules that help coaches understand general CEO principles required to protect their teams, a program assessment survey, and a 360 evaluation to assess how others perceive the competency of the coach to be.
Once the pre-requisites are completed, the coaches are awarded full scholarships to attend the Leadership Academy workshop where they can collaborate with mentors to customize the general principles (learned in the online modules) to meet their unique needs on each campus. Upon completion of the Academy, each coach is assigned to a mentor so they can receive ongoing guidance on an “as needed” basis.
“Being able to scholarship these thirty-three coaches is a testament to those generous donors who believe that we can better ourselves as a sport through education and leadership. By attending the Academy, these coaches are taking ownership of their program and asserting themselves as the CEO of their team,” said Mike Moyer, NWCA Executive Director.
A highlight of Academy was the keynote speech which was presented by Arkansas businessman and wrestling benefactor, Greg Hatcher, which focused on “outrageous service.” Hatcher, founder of The Hatcher Agency, delivered a phenomenal message on providing great customer service and overcoming your greatest enemy which is time itself.
Hatcher encouraged the participation of the coaches during his speech and ultimately challenged them to be sure to apply the newly acquired knowledge toward the improvement of their programs upon their return back to campus. In addition, Hatcher provided each attendee a copy of his book “55 Steps to Outrageous Service.”
One of the newly appointed Women’s Wrestling Coaches, Marcie Van Dusen, said, “the 2010 NCWA Convention was a wonderful educational experience for me. The Academy and the Convention provided me with knowledgeable leaders and innovative speakers who shared their insights. It was a unique setting where I was able to learn from the successes and failures of the best coaches in the nation. These coaches shared with me the tools they used to create their wrestling traditions. It was an inspiring experience for me and I can’t wait to implement what I have learned to create a stronger Women’s wrestling program at Menlo College.”
The 2010 Leadership Academy consisted of the following coaches: Matthew Azevedo, Alaina Berube, Seth Bloomquist, Matthew Burlingame, Ken Caudell, Sevond Cole, Derek DelPorto, Timothy Dernlan, Ramon Diaz, Daniel Elliott, Ron Headlee, Josh Henson, Scott Hinkel, Eric Keller, Dock Kelly, Jason Loukides, Mike Mendoza, Nick Mitchell, Bob Patnesky, John Petty, Ken Prophete, Ken Ramsey, Matt Sedivy, Nathan Shearer, Michael Simon, Chad Smith, Pat Sole, Walter Ulrich, Marcie Van Dusen, Andy Vogel, Robbie Waller, Kevin Ward, and Mauricio Wright.
With coaches from all divisions present in the 2010 Academy the response was virtually the same. “The Leadership Academy really opened my eyes to new ideas and strategies that I need to incorporate into the Purdue Wrestling Program. It was such a valuable experience to listen and learn from all the outstanding mentors and coaches that were in attendance. I will certainly nominate any coaches that are on my staff to attend in the future. Thank you NWCA so much for the opportunity to attend,” said Scott Hinkel, head coach at Purdue University.
Mentors for the 2010 Leadership Academy were: Ron Beaschler, Jim Beichner, Coyte Cooper, Tim Fader, Mark Gumble, Dan Harris, Todd Hibbs, Jay Jones, Dave Kemmy, Rob Koll, Jon Laudenslager, John Licata, Jim Miller, Carl Poff, Archie Randall, Frank Romano, Brian Smith, Jack Spates, Rande Stottlemyer, Greg Strobel, Jeff Swenson, Alan Utter, Derek van der Merwe and Billy Walker.
The Friday Luncheon was kicked off with the graduation recognition of the Inaugural NWCA Leadership Academy Class from 2009 (not all of them were able to be in attendance): JohnMark Bentley, Ben Berogen, Jason Borrelli, Mark Branch, Brandon Brissette, Shawn Charles, Dax Charles, Heath Eslinger, John Garriques, Trent Goodale, Scott Hawes, Scott Hinkle, Tim Homan, Greg Ilaria, Tony Islas, R.C. LaHaye, Tom Layte, Clint Manny, Risto Marttinen, Joe Pollard, Tom Prairie, Todd Roberts, Ryan Smith, Ben Stehura, Casey Stouffer, Beau Vest and Jason York.
“The Leadership Academy would not have been possible without the help of many wrestling ambassadors who have dedicated their time to making sure the coaches received the most out of this experience, especially the primary architects Dr. Dan Gould and Derek van der Merwe. Both were instrumental in the delivery of the program and the foundation it was built on. Further, we are forever grateful for the many mentors that have given so generously of their time and knowledge to help guide the coaches through the program as well,” said Moyer.
With the goal of inspiring each and every coach that participated in the Academy, the mentors and staff will be working throughout the year to encourage dialogue and implementation of these practices in their daily routines with the school, community and athletes.
"The NWCA Leadership Academy was one of the most beneficial experiences in my coaching career. I was amazed at the depth and breadth of areas we covered in just two days. I left the convention energized and inspired to implement several of the strategies we discussed. The NWCA Leadership Academy is going to single handedly elevate the level of college coaching in America," said Tim Dernlan, Ashland University.
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