The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill’s Carolina Leadership Academy grew from a desire to ensure that the talent student-athletes exhibited on the field translates to their off-the-field pursuits. Now in its fourth year, the popular and successful program is spreading to other campuses across the nation.

More than 400 student-athletes participate in one of three Carolina Leadership Academy programs. The CREED program is mandatory for all freshmen, while the Rising Stars initiative targets selected sophomores and juniors who want to further develop their leadership skills. Coaches appoint team captains and other senior leaders to the Veteran Leaders program. All 21 head coaches, all 61 assistant coaches and various administrators also are involved in developing their leadership and communication skills as part of the academy.

John Blanchard, senior associate athletics director at North Carolina and co-director of the academy, said the initiative came from Athletics Director Dick Baddour, who noticed a lack of student-athlete leadership in multiple settings. Coaches also stressed student-athlete leadership as key to competing for conference and national championships.

“Dick said, ‘Let’s not hope that we will have strong student-athlete leadership, let’s develop it,’ ” said Blanchard.

As the academy continues to develop, the concept is spreading to other colleges and universities. The academy’s staff has worked with Yale University; the University of Illinois, Champaign; Stanford University; Baylor University; and Winston-Salem State University.

“We are developing world-class leaders for a lifetime of service and success. This program affects the lives of participants inside and outside of the athletics arenas and is designed to influence the rest of their lives,” said Blanchard. “We want to be known as the premier leadership development program in college athletics.”

VCU basketball coach turns teamwork page

Virginia Commonwealth University has written the book, so to speak, on community outreach. Members of the university’s SportsCenter, a graduate program that offers a master’s degree in sports leadership, published a children’s book called “Rodney Ram Teaches Teamwork,” and head men’s basketball coach Anthony Grant read it to third-graders at G.W. Carver Elementary School in downtown Richmond recently. Rodney Ram also made an appearance.

Grant and the school mascot are actually characters in the book — they give sound advice to a young player who doesn’t pass much. The book was developed over a five-year span under the direction of SportsCenter Executive Director Richard Sander, formerly the athletics director at the school. The project was designed to teach life skills to area youth and was written by SportsCenter graduate Stephanie McNamara and illustrated by former basketball player and SportsCenter graduate Susie Fife.

“Improving literacy among our children is just one of the goals of this project,” said Sander. “We strongly believe that a few of the core values taught in this book like teamwork, leadership and hard work are essential to a successful team, and more importantly, a successful life.”

“This book is a great lesson in teamwork,” Grant said. “One of our main goals at VCU is to play as a team. To be successful, we have to play unselfishly, together and with great energy.”
‘Little Lions’ connect with Columbia team

Before the 2005 season, Giorgio Palomasino, head coach of the Riverdale U-11 girls’ soccer team, contacted Columbia University women’s soccer head coach Kevin McCarthy to ask if his young team could attend a game.
“I thought it would be good for my team to have role models,” said Palomasino.

McCarthy agreed and invited the team to serve as ball girls. Since then, the squads have established a bond, and the younger players have even provided a bit of luck to their mentors. In 2005, Riverdale was on hand when Columbia dealt Yale its first Ivy League loss that season, and the following year, the Riverdale team attended nearly every weekend game and saw Columbia claim its first Ivy League title.

The squad has continued to serve as ball girls for Columbia during the 2007 season and more local teams have joined them. “My players see the joy the girls get from the game and remember how they felt as young players. They want to share their experience,” said McCarthy.

The squads also now officially share something else. After the 2005 season, Riverdale officially added “Lions” to their team name.