It’s week two of the summer Speed and Strength Camp that coincides with varsity Apollo High School athletics. However, something is a little unique about the girls’ soccer “chalk talk” with Coach Mark Timpane. The girls all received a text the day before from the coach stating they needed to write and bring their resumes to today’s class.
What?!
Yes. You read correctly. Eighth-grade through 12th-grade players are required to bring their resumes to chalk talk.
Why, you might ask?
Timpane is teaching a leadership class every week during his chalk talk time. He uses Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” as a guide for his class.
This week is Habit 2, “Begin with the end in mind.”
As the girls walk into the classroom, the conversation is much like any athlete’s conversation.
“How much did you squat?” asks Ashley Kesler.
Alyssa Pajari answers, “I squatted the bar!”
The large screen in the front of the classroom reads, “The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.” -Benjamin Mays
Timpane starts the class with reviewing Habit 1 “Proactive v. Reactive.”
“Why do we want to be proactive versus reactive?” asks Timpane.
Several athletes shout out the reasons for the statements “I will” and “I believe” describing a growth mindset and how to change the way they think.
Taking that growth mindset and positive way of thinking leads to Habit 2.
Timpane asks for two volunteers to re-enact a scene from “Alice In Wonderland.” The scene portrays Alice asking the cat which direction she should go. The cat responds to Alice, telling her it doesn’t matter which way she goes if she doesn’t know where she’s going.
More volunteers are called up to solve a puzzle that has not yet been put together. Timpane only gives them a few minutes to put the pieces together.
Unsuccessfully, the girls take their seats.
Timpane asks, “What would have helped put the puzzle together faster?”
Anna Carlson replies, “A picture would have helped.”
The aha moment!
Timpane points out that the cat telling Alice “it doesn’t matter which way you go” was true. It was true because Alice didn’t know where she was going. She didn’t have the end in mind. Timpane also points out, if the girls don’t know what the puzzle is suppose to look like, it makes it difficult to put it together.
“Have an image in mind of what the end looks like,” says Timpane. “All things are created twice. Once in your mind or imagination. The second is in the physical-doing the steps.”
Last year, the players, were asked to set goals for the season and turn their goals into Timpane. Only one on the team had the State Tournament as a goal.
There are two important key aspects that Timpane wants his players to know. 1. You are the driver of your life, not the passenger. 2. Decide where you want to go.
In regards to their resumes, Timpane says, “It’s ok if you don’t know what you want right now.”
However, Timpane wants them to start thinking about it.
“I’m not afraid of calling up a CEO and saying, ‘I’ve got a girl here who wants to go into IT. Is there something we can do to get her in an internship?'” says Timpane.
A shocked eighth-grade student, Paris Hoel, remarks, “I didn’t know he could do that!”
Timpane urges the girls to volunteer in a field of work they are interested in. Some may find they love it and some may find out it is not a good fit at all.
He presents another exercise to the girls. This assignment is more of a seed in their minds. Timpane wants them to think about what they would want written in their obituary. He wants the girls to decide what values are important to them.
“We want to teach them to become a good person instead of an athlete. [If we do that] they become great athletes,” remarks Timpane.
Stephanie Van Houtan, the assistant girls’ soccer coach, adds, “Championships die. You don’t walk up to a person and say, ‘Hi. I’m Mark the National Championship winner,’ says Van Houtan. “You say, ‘Hi. I’m Mark.'”
Timpane smiles saying, “We spend two hours a day with these girls, which can be more time than with their parents. We just want to make sure they become well-rounded people.”