By Eric McDowell, SUNY Brockport
You would be surprised how much it means to a student-athlete to get recognition. To some, it will be a highlight they will never forget. It is exciting to see their reaction. No matter how many sports you have, and no matter what type of season the team is having, you can honor your student-athletes in special ways.
At SUNY Brockport, we have a variety of weekly honors that are available, on all levels. They include:
· SUNY Brockport Female Athlete of the Week
· SUNY Brockport Male Athlete of the Week
· Rochester Area College Athletics (RACA) Female, Male Athletes of the Week (10 local colleges nominate each week)
· SUNYAC (conference) Player of the Week for each sport
· ECAC Div. III Player of the Week
· Specialty sport weekly honors (D3football.com, D3hoops.com, Don Hansen’s Football Gazette, NCGA Gymnast of the Week, etc.)
When I arrived at Brockport, I instituted a certificate that is printed each week and awarded to any of our student-athletes who receive weekly honors. The "Athlete of the Week" is presented to Brockport and RACA winners. The certificate with the college name on the top is presented to students who receive other weekly winners, like the specialty sports, for example.
Each certificate is pre-printed in color on a light card stock that can run through our printer. Here is how this can work for you:
· Assign a student to keep a database of certificate masters, and save each winner (for example, BAF916 would be the Brockport female winner for Sept. 16.
· Select your school weekly winners on Mondays and post their head shots on your web site. If you do not have a photo on file, contact the coach and student and have them stop in for a digital shot prior to practice (with a warm-up top on).
· Print the certificate and have the coach and A.D. sign them.
· Do NOT give the certificate to the student-athlete that week. Instead, present them prior to introducing seniors at the final home game. The A.D. and Coach can give them at that time, in front of teammates, family and friends. See this script from a recent final home event. In cases where students win an award after the last home game, present them with your other awards at the end of season reception/banquet.
What if a team is struggling, you say? You can STILL be fair and SPREAD IT AROUND. Look at the schedule and you can get a good idea of when a team might have the best shot. Despite a tough season for the team, a women’s tennis player was honored during a busy week for her singles play. It is ESSENTIAL that every team receives an Athlete of the Week award at least once. Surely there are ways to insure this, maybe somebody is about to break a career record, won an academic honor, or even did exceptional community service. At Brockport last winter, the women’s gymnastics, men’s basketball and wrestling teams could have won awards every week with their fantastic seasons. But the other teams also were recognized with weekly honors.
Honor them other ways…
· Announce the weekly winners at home events on the P.A.
· Provide them to hometown media.
· Post the release in a prominent location in the lobby of your facility.
For season ending receptions/banquets, we pre-print an "Athletic Award" certificate and also a "Four-Year Award" certificate. Here is how this works:
· Coaches provide letter winner names within two weeks of reception/banquet.
· Student prints out each winner, and double checks name spellings.
· Coach and A.D. sign names, and do one more confirmation of letter winners.
· Four-year winners are placed in a plaque with a photo.
· All awards are presented at reception/banquet.
Recognition is so important. These are inexpensive ways to honor your student-athletes on a regular basis. Now, what about YOUR students, the lifeblood of your office?
APPRECIATING YOUR STUDENTS
Your students are very important to you personally and professionally. Not only can you make things easier for them with scheduling of office and event management, but you can also show your appreciation for them.
We hold a pre-season meeting, prior to the Fall, Winter and Spring. Here’s how it works:
· Pizza and soda are provided, usually at 5 p.m., after day classes and before night classes, on a day around people’s schedule. This is a one-time meeting before each of the three sport seasons.
· After the chit-chat, food and drink, the schedules are handed out from the information forms that they provided to us. We assign games based on the schedule forms that are submitted.
· E-mail "thank you" quickie notes are sent out each week to students who worked events that week.
· Throughout the year, we gather items from other SIDs, NCAA tournaments, conference tournaments, coaches, etc.
· At the end of the year, we hold a mini-golf "tournament." Everyone plays after food/drink, and they also get tokens to play video games at the site. (NOTE: We do NOT provide these complimentary items to a current student-athlete. If a student-athlete works in your office, they could attend this event but they CANNOT receive benefits.)
· We use a school van (or two) to transport the students together. This is done a few days before finals, since after finals everyone takes off for the summer.
· Prizes are "awarded." The lowest score picks something off the item table, and so on. EVERYONE gets something.
Your students will appreciate the fact that you appreciate them!
For questions, comments or samples:
Eric McDowell
(585) 395-2218
emcdowel@brockport.edu