Leading with Commitment, Confidence, Composure, and Character

Country Day’s Robert C. Witman Leadership Academy gives student-athletes the skills to translate leadership theory into practice, which they carry with them on and off the field.

By Abe Wehmiller, director of athletics

Seniors Sophie Francis and Tyler Rigot have gone to great lengths to make athletics a core part of their Country Day experience.

Sophie is about to begin her fourth and final season as a member of Country Day’s varsity swimming team. In her first three seasons, she earned three individual state championships and helped her teams to two top-five state finishes along the way.

Tyler joined the Bucs’ varsity baseball team when he came to Country Day as a sophomore and has been a regular in the starting pitching rotation for the past two seasons. His prowess on the mound has been a big factor in Country Day’s 47 wins and two deep state playoff runs in that time.

Both are also founding members of Country Day’s Robert C. Witman Leadership Academy, a unique program that has helped them develop their leadership capacities and contribute to their teams with more than just their physical abilities. Using sports to develop the leadership capacity of our students has the distinct advantage of presenting them with real-life situations that require them to immediately translate leadership theory into practice.

“One example of me using what I’ve learned is how to handle teammates when they encounter adversity,” says Tyler, who plans to continue playing baseball at Bucknell University next year. “I am there to pick them up and to help them clear their mind to focus on the next play or inning.

Everyone will encounter adversity in their sport, so it is very important to be there for someone when they struggle. Encouraging your teammates helps create a positive team atmosphere.”

Launched in the fall of 2016, the Leadership Academy is named for Bob Witman, who served as Country Day’s head football coach for 25 years before retiring from that position following the 2014 season. Witman continues to work at Country Day as an assistant coach with the track and field program.

The Academy is administered in partnership with the Janssen Sports Leadership Center, a group that has been at the forefront of leadership development for student-athletes for the past two decades. Jeff Janssen and his team of facilitators have worked with over 250 institutions in that time and have established leadership academies in some of the nation’s top collegiate athletics programs. Country Day was one of the Center’s first secondary school academy partnerships.

Two-Year Program Puts Theory into Practice

Participating student-athletes spend their first year in the Emerging Leaders program, which focuses on developing self-leadership and leadership of teammates through individual interactions.

They then graduate to the Veteran Leaders program, where they learn how to be vocal leaders and build healthy, team cultures. Graduates of the Veteran Leaders program are now eligible to participate in a new Student-Athlete Leadership Council.

“The principle we’ve learned that has stayed with me the most is the concept of leading by example,” says Sophie, who recently made a commitment to join the swim program at the University of California, San Diego.

“We’ve all been told to lead by example since we were young, but the Leadership Academy was the first time I’ve actually learned about it in a more in-depth and serious way. It’s caused me to stop, think, and evaluate before I handle a situation.”

The curriculum is designed to develop four aspects of leadership that are key to strong individual and team performance in sports: commitment, confidence, composure, and character. Six classroom sessions over the course of the year include lectures, discussions, and activities that introduce theories and practical applications related to these four topics.

Academy participants also complete a variety of assignments that encourage them to reflect on what they’ve learned and work with their coaches to apply it with their teams.

For instance, Tyler shares how he uses the “traffic light” analogy he learned in the Academy’s composure modules to prepare himself for games: “If I’m feeling great and strong, I know that I am in the green and ready to roll without any issues,” he says. “If I’m not feeling 100% but I can work through situations without much adversity, then I know that I am in the yellow. I know that I’m in the red when nothing is going right. I can use this to evaluate how I am feeling and how to attack once the game begins.”

When Sophie encountered a pair of bickering teammates on her club team during a recent practice, she remembered what she learned in the Academy about effective confrontation and decided to put that knowledge to use: “I told them that they needed to stop focusing on whatever drama was setting them apart and start caring about the other person’s success as well as the success of the whole team. It took a bit, but eventually, we all came together. To date, that was one of the best practices we’ve had.”

Both Sophie and Tyler agree the Academy has helped them become better teammates and leaders, and both hope to continue finding ways to implement what they’ve learned—here at at Country Day and beyond.

“There is so much valuable information you can learn and apply almost immediately to your teams,” Tyler says. “The class teaches you how to deal with adversity, evaluate your role on your team, handle yourself in tense situations, and several other key aspects of being a successful leader. I definitely take it seriously.”