We Are EC

Eastside Catholic’s Core Covenants AT THE CORE Cross Country Coach Brandi Faith Student-Athlete Gracie Hopkins ’22 are inspired by the Touchstones that guide and defi ne expectations of all EC student-athletes.

TRUE COMPETITOR

A true competitor is prepared, disciplined and coachable. Their passion and attitude elevates the performance of everyone around them.

INTEGRITY

We consistently prioritize our moral principles— honesty, respect, humility and compassion for others. FAMILY

We celebrate our common and diverse experiences while offering one another unconditional love and support.

ACCOUNTABLE

We take responsibility for our actions and the actions of our team. We spoke with Cross Country Coach Brandi Faith and StudentAthlete Gracie Hopkins ’22 to learn more about a new program being rolled out in the Athletic Department—how it was developed, how it is being implemented and the impact it will have with student-athletes across all sports at EC.

Why is this program important?

Brandi: The core covenants program is important because it provides a shared vision and foundational expectations for all of our teams at Eastside Catholic. The covenants provide a framework and identity we can be proud of in athletics that is in line with the Touchstones that guide Eastside Catholic. How will you implement this across all sports?

Brandi: Each coach is responsible for implementing the core covenants in a way that will best resonate with their team. I tried several different approaches and experimented initially in an effort to pull as much input out of athletes as possible. Ultimately, the key for us was establishing a leadership group within our team and the Athletic Department—Student Athletic Adisory Council (SAAC)— to fi ne tune student input. The student council did a great job and we ended up with a roadmap for the future that defi nes the values we believe in and what they look like in our sport and beyond.

How were you involved in the process?

Gracie: I have been involved in EC sports since freshman year through running cross country and playing lacrosse. I love my experience playing sports at EC: the teammates, community and school spirit have made it a fun experience. When I heard about the Student Athletic Advisory Council, I joined because I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to get more involved. Athletic Director Stacey Stoutt had the student council review the core covenants that the athletics committee developed and had us decide what the core covenant “family” looked like in different situations for our student body. Then Ms. Faith led us in discussing the core covenants indepth to decide how the covenants specifi cally related to running cross country. I was the captain of cross country and had the opportunity to, with the other captain Michael Viscardi, decide ways to present the core covenants to our team.

What else would you like to say about this program?

Brandi: If you can defi ne what you want your program to look like, you can use the core covenants to get there. How do you see this rolling out once students are all back on campus in the fall?

Did you feel like you were heard?

Gracie: I absolutely felt I was heard. With the Student Athletic Council, we discussed the covenants as a group and collectively decided on the best defi nitions while ensuring everyone’s opinion was heard. Michael and I were able to communicate with our cross country coach often to determine activities that would be fun for the team to represent the core covenants. There were often breakout groups, voting and small-group discussions where everyone on the cross country team was able to voice their opinion. How have student-athletes responded?

Brandi: Speaking only from my experience with the cross country team, the response has been positive. I found that our students are not opposed to high expectations, they just want to be clear on what those expectations look like and have consistency. I’m very proud of how open they were to building our team and grateful for the work they put into it. Gracie: When fi rst introducing the core covenants to the cross country team, there were some that were skeptical. But, because of the core covenants, our team dynamic became much stronger. After discussing what actions the core covenant “family” entails (one example was staying and cheering for your teammates as they fi nish a race), our team saw signifi cant action. Now almost everyone on the team cheers for our runners and the runners on other teams too. At almost every meet, our cross country coach got an email from the other coach at the meet expressing their appreciation for EC cross country supporting not only our runners but their runners as well. I attribute that to our team’s embrace of the core covenants.

Do you see a change in attitudes or behaviors?

Brandi: In all honesty, we always had a great group of students to work with in cross country. That doesn’t mean there weren’t things that needed to be changed or improved. I had set about redesigning certain aspects of our program when the core covenants were introduced. This program actually made it easier to implement many of the changes I had been dreaming about. I can attribute improved communication and positivity directly to the core covenants. Students were encouraging and never complained. We received praise from other teams regarding the sportsmanship and behavior of our cross country team this season. I personally believe our team was more united.

Brandi: Implementing the core covenants is a multi-step process so we will see this roll out in stages. Now that our core covenants have been established, we will see coaches articulate and teach these values based on a clear and specifi c plan they have for their team. With all students back in the fall and normal schedules resuming, this will be more of an intentional process and we hope to see that pay off with every team. Gracie: I think the core covenants will be a bigger deal next year. The cross country team was a test of how teams can adopt the core covenants and it was an absolute success. As a result, Mrs. Stoutt was talking about using cross country as a model for other sports teams. Other teams can follow exactly what cross country did or tweak the process depending on what will resonate most with their athletes. Crusaders should defi nitely expect to hear about the core covenants— true competitors, integrity, accountable and family—next year!