2 minute read
From Our Athletic Director
It is a rare occurrence in the EC Athletic Department when things slow down enough to catch our collective breath, and rarer still to have time to sit back, refl ect and refocus. If there has been any upside to COVID-19, it has been this opportunity.
Since becoming the athletic director at Eastside Catholic School, one of my goals has been to clearly defi ne what it means to be a Crusader athlete. To establish who we are and what that looks like, not just at a practice or a game, but in the school and in our community and work to build a strong understanding of the athletic culture at EC.
We began working with Bruce Brown of Proactive Coaching last spring when stay at home orders were in place to refi ne our guiding principles and develop “core covenants” for Eastside Catholic athletics. A covenant is more than a promise. It is a binding agreement where an action is physically visible. I enlisted our Athletics Department staff, as well as many of our head coaches, to assist in the process of developing our core covenants. We worked on this project for weeks during the summer and, in the end, agreed on what the Core Covenants of Eastside Catholic Athletics should be.
As part of this process, all high school athletes were invited to apply to serve as members of a Crusader Student Athletic Advisory Council (CSAAC). CSAAC is a cross-section of student-athletes, representing all grades and all sports. One of the initial goals and responsibilities of CSAAC has been to review the newly established core covenants and provide feedback on defi nitions for each one.
I strongly believe in the importance of our student-athlete contributions during this process and feel it is essential to have their buy-in for the core covenants to take hold in our athletes. Student-athlete input is invaluable, and they have great ideas on how we will roll this out to the broader student-athlete community. I am immensely proud of the work we have engaged in and look forward to sharing our progress when we return to athletics, post-pandemic.
These have been challenging times to say the least. But I believe not having the ability to participate in sports these past months will ultimately give our student-athletes and their coaches a greater appreciation for what athletics brings to their lives. I believe student-athletes will return to play with a sense of gratitude that they may not have felt before.
I want our students to know that we are with them every step of the way and I look forward to the day when our student-athletes are back on their respective playing surfaces, proudly wearing their blue and orange!
Stay safe and ROLL CRU!
