A great way to motivate student-athletes to improve their grades is to give them academic goals. At St. Michael's College, a new program helps with this process.

By Dr. David Landers

David Landers, PhD, is the Faculty Athletic Representative and a Visiting Associate Professor of Psychology at St. Michael's College in Vermont. He can be reached at: dlanders@smcvt.edu.

If you are an administrator or a coach, you know how to assess others. Most likely, you do it constantly and without much thought. You note whether your new basketball coach is showing enough leadership qualities. You notice which athletes are contributors and which are detractors. And you can make these assessments quickly and easily.

However, for high school and college students, understanding these qualities is not such an easy task. Most student-athletes do not know how to assess their own skills when it comes to nonquantitative factors. They know they did well on the court if they scored a lot of points or pulled down a lot of rebounds. They know they are doing well in school if their grades are good. But when things are not going well, it is often difficult for them to figure out why.

Teachers and coaches tend to evaluate their students without much specificity. We expect them to be leaders, but we seldom explain what that means. And even less frequently do we teach them the steps to becoming a leader.

Here at St. Michael's College, an NCAA Division II school with 400-plus student-athletes, I have been introducing a program to some of our student-athletes that helps them achieve academic goals through a three-step process: assessment, goal setting, and program development. The program teaches the student-athletes, step-by-step, how to get from where they are to where they want or need to be.

The primary aim of the program is to help the student-athletes boost their academic achievement. But it also teaches them skills that will help them in all aspects of life, including athletics. The program is easy to implement, costs nothing, and has been extremely effective with our student-athletes.

SELF-ASSESSMENT
The program begins with a five-point scale that defines the qualities a student may possess. Called the "Leader to Detractor Scale," it is based on a model developed by Robert Carkhuff and is simple enough for every student-athlete to understand (see "Leader" sidebar at the end of this article). To start, we explain it to the student-athletes using examples in sport.

At the middle of the scale is the participant, someone who does just what is asked, nothing more and nothing less. If the coach tells him to do three drills, he does three drills.

One step down is the observer, someone who does less than what the coach asks. If the coach assigns three drills, she may only do two.

Another step down is the detractor, a person who does less than what is asked and also distracts someone else from doing what is assigned. This would be the person who does two drills instead of the three that were assigned, and then talks his teammate into also doing two instead of three.

One step up from the participant is the contributor, someone who does all that is asked and then contributes by doing something extra. If the coach asks her to do three drills, she does four or five.

At the top of the scale is the leader, a person who does all that is asked, does something extra, and then helps someone else. If the coach asks him to do three drills, he does four or five, then works with a teammate who is struggling to complete the drills.

We then talk to the athletes about how this scale can be transferred into the classroom. A student who memorizes 10 vocabulary words in Spanish class because that is what was assigned is a participant. The one who only memorizes five words and then talks their buddy into heading to the mall instead of working on the vocabulary words becomes a detractor. The student who memorizes the 10 words, practices using them in sentences, and asks a classmate if they want to quiz each other is a leader.

Each student-athlete is given a copy of the scale, which will help them with the first part of the program: self-assessment. On a simple form, we ask each student-athlete to list every class they are enrolled in and provide as accurate an assessment as possible of how they are doing. What grade do they think they would get? How is their attendance?

Then, we ask them to think about what role they take in each class. Are they a participant? A contributor? An observer? Would they be able to improve their grade in the class if they moved from participant to contributor? From contributor to leader?

STEP BY STEP
Once the student-athletes have assessed where they are in each class, I ask them to come up with realistic goals for each class. On the same form mentioned above, they list their goal for their semester grade. Then they list what "quality" they want to possess in that class based on the leader to detractor scale. We remind them to be realistic in their goals.

From there, we enter the program development phase. Program development is a step-by-step process to get a person from where he or she is to where he or she wants or needs to be. Coaches often tell student-athletes to "work harder" or "do better" or "shape up" without helping them accomplish this goal. Program development breaks things down into simple, specific steps that allow the student-athlete to draw a map of where they want to go and shows how they are going to get there.

One way I teach program development is through a fun drill. I ask the students to pretend they are standing in front of the bathroom sink in the morning with the goal of brushing their teeth. Then I ask them to write down exactly what they need to do to accomplish this goal. I give them a couple of minutes, and then ask them to tell me what they've written down. Almost everyone misses at least some steps in the process. If they said they turned the water on, did they turn it off? Did they take the cap off the toothpaste? Did they put in back on? Did they write down if they spit and rinsed? This is a very simple way to get them to understand program development.

Here's another drill I use: I sit in a chair and tell them my goal is to turn off the light. I ask them to give me step-by-step directions to accomplish my goal. They need to get me out of my chair, to walk to the light switch, and so forth. They never can do it!

Next, I put the program development idea into an athletic mode. If you want to teach someone in ice hockey how to skate backwards, how do you break it down into steps? Together, we talk about the details of the foot movement, how to position the body, where to look so you don't crash, and so forth.

By going through these exercises, athletes see that it's important to make their program steps specific and detailed if they want to reach their goal. Skipping a step or listing steps that are too vague won't get them where they want to go.

From there, I ask them to look at the academic goals they've written down and figure out a step-by-step progression for reaching each goal. I put a diagram on the blackboard: a series of five or six steps going from a low step on the left to a higher step on the right. I put where a student is now at the bottom step, and at the top I put their goal. The steps in between may include: set aside a specific time to study, study in a quiet room, go over notes right after class, ask the professor questions, prepare a draft before handing in a paper, use the campus writing center.

These drills and diagrams are a great starting point for the student-athletes. They now have goals they have developed themselves and real ideas on how to achieve them.

TIERED MENTORING
Next, athletes work with a mentor to refine their program development and get more ideas. Some students need help with strategies for improvement and some need help with implementing their strategies. To accomplish this, we have veteran players mentor newer players. This means less administrative oversight is needed, and it also leads to more buy-in among all student-athletes. We have used both a two-tiered and a three-tiered mentoring program.

With two tiers, a team captain is responsible for working with all team members. Over the course of the academic year the captain meets with the other players both individually and in a group every two or three weeks. He or she talks to them about their progress in their classes and provides support and reinforcement when appropriate. The captains also refer team members to other resources on campus when needed.

With three tiers, new members of the team are assigned a mentor from the returning group of players. Then, the returning players report to the team captains. This seems to work best as it spreads out the mentoring among many teammates.

To help them with their mentoring roles, captains were given a book by Robert Carkhuff called The Art of Helping, which provides advice on counseling others using the leader to detractor scale. It is especially helpful for learning how to read nonverbal cues and use active listening techniques.

IN ACTION
How does the program work when we put it into action? Our first test was a year ago with our men's ice hockey team. To start, I met with the team captain and two assistant captains. I laid out the program and asked for their input. They were very receptive to it, and we decided to implement it as a three-tiered mentoring program. The coach asked that I present the information to the entire team during its annual overnight off-campus retreat.

Right before I was ready to present the information, the three captains asked me if it would be okay if they presented the information to their teammates themselves, which I thought was a great idea. Each of them talked about their academic major and their grade point average. They then described the tiered mentoring program and explained how the captains and assistant captains would report to me every couple of weeks to discuss academics—not ice hockey.

Several things were accomplished by having the captains present this information. First, it put them out front academically. Since two of the three had grade point averages over 3.3 they made a strong statement that it was not only accepted, but expected that the hockey team would achieve academically. The other captain mumbled his current GPA and it was clearly evident it wasn't very good. It was also evident he was embarrassed by it. Having the captains present the program also showed the team that their leaders fully embraced the challenge.

Our end-of-year results showed success. To the surprise of some, the most progress was made by the returning players who served as mentors for the new players. They realized that to effectively influence the newer players they had to have their own house in order. In addition, the captain who mumbled his GPA at the initial meeting upped his from 2.4 to 3.3 over the course of the program. His desire to be a leader among his teammates provided incentive that neither the coach nor I could ever have given him.

Our second test was with our men's soccer team, which had dropped to 20th in rank academically out of our 21 varsity teams. The coach was concerned and wanted to try something new with his team. Fortunately, one of his captains had also taken my sports psychology class the previous semester and he was interested in working on their academic achievement problem, thus enabling us to use a two-tiered mentoring program.

The captain enrolled in an independent study with me and took on the challenge of working with all the team members, focusing on first-year players. I presented the program to the athletes, with the captain and the coach as support staff. Then, the captain helped the players with their goal setting and progress, meeting with them every two to three weeks.

He saw himself as a support system and a sounding board for his teammates to discuss current or potential areas of concern as well as areas of success. During their meetings, he asked them to discuss their attitudes about their classes, professors, and if they felt challenged or overwhelmed by their studies. He promoted class involvement, communication with the professor, and time management.

He felt the key was teaching them to be aware of where they were in the current moment and understanding all the little steps that have to be made to get them where they want to be. Since very rarely does change occur in one instance, he emphasized that there are stages that lead to positive change.

Team members were very receptive to the captain's approach and learned to trust him as a mentor. They also bought into the idea that their low academic rank in the department was not acceptable. At the end of the second semester the soccer team had moved to number eight out of the 21 varsity teams.

Here at St. Michael's, we are implementing this program only when a coach requests it, but it easily could be administered throughout an entire athletic department. The best scenario is for the faculty athletics representative to present the program to all head coaches, who can then train their captains and set up a three-tiered mentoring program. The oversight would be minimal as the initial meetings can be accomplished in half an hour and the student-athletes can set up the mentoring meetings themselves.

Whether in the classroom or out on the field, success breeds success. When student-athletes are taught how to assess themselves, set realistic goals, and develop their own program for achievement, the possibilities for improvement are endless.

A special thank-you to Pablo Noguera, the former captain of the men's soccer team at St. Michael's and a current graduate student in the Sports Psychology program at Boston University, for his help with this article.

Sidebar: LEADER TO DETRACTOR SCALE
• Leader: Does what is expected, but also does something extra and helps someone else.
• Contributor: Does what is expected and does something extra.
• Participant: Does only what is expected.
• Observer: Does less than what is expected.
• Detractor: does less than what is expected and distracts someone else from doing what is expected.

Sidebar: ON THE FIELD
While the primary purpose of implementing our assessment and goals program was to increase academic achievement, its concepts can easily be transferred to athletics. For example, if a soccer team needs to improve the skill of heading the ball, each team member can assess his or her skill in this area and develop goals.

One player (with input from the coach) may conclude that she is a leader in the skill. She knows how to place her body at the right spot to head the ball and not collide with the other player, she knows the right spot on her head to use to direct the ball, and she can teach others how to do this.

Another player may be an observer in this skill. He gets to the ball okay but doesn't position himself in relation to the opposing player to avoid hitting heads. The coach has shown him several times how to better position his body, but he still doesn't seem to get it.

This player can set a goal of becoming a participant in the skill. The player and coach can figure out a step-by-step progression for teaching him the skills to position his body correctly, such as when to look away from the ball and when to look back at it, and where exactly to place each part of his body during the movement.

In any sport and with any skill, coaches can establish their own levels of proficiency and communicate them to their players. The coach can teach players how to assess themselves and check out the accuracy of their assessment with the coach, assistant coach, or captain. They can then work together to establish a goal for improvement through a step-by-step process.

Another plus of this type of program is that it can open a dialogue between coach and athlete. If there is a difference of opinion about where a player should be placed on the leader to detractor scale, it allows discussion about what the coach sees in the athlete that the athlete is not seeing, and vice versa.

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