The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- December 21, 1998

End Zone -- Athletes teaching the fundamentals for basketball and life

Members of the women's basketball team at Virginia Commonwealth University are teaching girls more than just how to improve their game -- they are teaching them skills for life.

In a national pilot program sponsored by Converse, the student-athletes are teamed with more than 70 area middle-school students in SUPER (Sports United to Promote Education and Recreation), an after-school program designed to teach basketball fundamentals, goal-setting, team-building and determination.

For 11 weeks, middle-school students from the Richmond area traveled to the university's campus for weekly two-hour sessions. The girls were divided into teams of about 10, and 14 women's basketball team members and two former players served as coaches and life skills teachers.

"We're so focused on making kids learn how to read, write and do math," said Steven Danish, program developer and director of the university's Life Skills Center. "Just as important as teaching those basic skills is helping children learn how to use them in everyday life."

Each team got a chance to scrimmage and rotate among several stations. At one station, they practiced basketball skills and worked on their game. At another station, the student-athletes used a workshop environment to help the girls set individual goals and develop plans to attain them.

Participants were taught how to incorporate what they learned into their daily lives, and they had members of the women's basketball team as role models.

"They're learning how important it is to persevere, concentrate, listen to their coaches, get up when they miss a shot, and go back and try harder," Danish said. "That's what life is all about."

Specific skills the young girls learn include: learning to dream, turning dreams into reachable goals, developing plans to reach goals, identifying roadblocks to goal attainment, overcoming roadblocks, working as a team, and performing under pressure.

To participate in the program as teachers and role models, the student-athletes had to enroll in a course offered through the Life Skills Center in the university's psychology department. The course, "Teaching Life Skills Through Sports," exposes students to theoretical and developmental issues of adolescence as well as strategic methods in mentoring.

"(The program) helps the girls because we are so reachable," said sophomore guard Alyssa McKenna. "They see us, can relate to us and can see themselves in our shoes in a couple of years."

And what do the girls think of their new friends on the women's basketball team?

"They're fun and they're smart, too," said Annick Britt, a seventh-grade student at Liberty Middle School. "They want to make the right choices and help you make the right choices, too."

In addition to being role models on the court, members of the women's basketball team at Virginia Commonwealth also are leaders in the classroom. The team's grade-point average last year was 3.100 (4.000 scale), with six players earning dean's list honors.

"The program not only helps team members learn how to build student and teacher relationships, but it helps in their personal lives as well," said women's head basketball coach David Glass.

"The team members understand that they are role models, and the young girls look up to them as strong student-athlete figures."

Program coordinators at Virginia Commonwealth hope that the university can serve as a model for other schools across the country.

"Basketball and other sports can be used as a vehicle for learning all kinds of life skills and learning how to succeed in life -- not just how to succeed in sports," Danish said.

Perhaps teaching others how to succeed is a measure of success itself.