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Something special is happening in Oklahoma.
It’s great when individual teams experience Lead ‘Em Up, even better when entire athletic programs do, and absolutely incredible to see what’s happening in Moore, Oklahoma.
Moore Public Schools are in their second year of utilizing Lead ‘Em Up district wide and the impact being made is remarkable. Within the district there are three high schools (Moore High School, Westmoore High School, and Southmoore High School) and six junior high schools (Highland East Junior High, Central Junior High, Highland West Junior High, Southridge Junior High, Moore West Junior High, and Brink Junior High).
Within the nine Moore Public schools there are over 4,200 student athletes, 240 coaches, and 162 programs experiencing the life-changing Lead ‘Em Up exercises. We caught up with Moore Schools Athletic Director, Mr. Brian Fitzgerald, who gave us some insight on the mission and vision of his district:
From a sports perspective, why does leadership matter?
From a Sports perspective- leadership matters in every facet including but not limited to: academics, planning, team building, practice, relationships, EVERYTHING. Staff leadership sets the tone for the player leadership and the player leadership obviously transfers to the team and hopefully to the entire student body.
Why should coaches invest their time & energy into developing leaders on their team?
The main reason we are in this business is not to Coach a sport, but to coach a person. We are developing our student athletes to be effective parents, employees, employers, and future leaders of our community and beyond. To me, developing leaders on our teams is not for two or three select individuals, but rather teaching everyone how to lead and also how to follow.
– Why do you believe athletes can grow as leaders when intentionally developed?
Athletes can develop leadership skills just as any other skill with the right teaching and coaching along with opportunity for practice.
– What about the Lead ‘Em Up program made you think this is the program ideal for your district?
The main thing that attracted me was the ready-made exercises and the ability to customize your activities to your teams’ needs. Also, the attention to detail and the personal involvement of Adam and his team make it easy to communicate.
As you can see Brian Fitzgerald and his team are committed to building the leaders our world needs. The Moore Schools community is fortunate to have a strong leadership team in place who not only care deeply for their current student-athletes, but for their future ones as well.
Special teams and programs are created when you combine character/leadership with skills/schemes. Moore Public Schools are well on their way to building a long-lasting legacy of special teams who achieve great success.
There will be a ripple effect that reaches far beyond the Moore Public Schools boundaries.
When the leader improves, everybody wins.
To find out more on how you can bring Lead ‘Em Up to your athletic programs, click here.
We want to provide you a tool to keep your players engaged, growing as leaders and continuing to feel connected to their team/teammates; The 21-Day Leadership Playbook.
Have fun and #LeadEmUp
