Last week I attended the California State Athletic Directors Conference in Santa Clara. As a lifelong learner I enjoy the opportunity to stay on top of the current trends as well as collaborate with our region and beyond. The conference had a great line up of speakers in our general sessions with standing room only for Tara VanDerveer. As a young girl growing up playing travel basketball this was especially exciting as I had the opportunity to meet her back in 1997. She took us through her journey as an athlete, coach, and her struggles she faced along the way. She concluded by saying her favorite athletic directors are the ones that gave her unlimited budgets!
The next day I had the privilege of hearing Joan Ryan speak of her latest book. This was the second time I was lucky enough to hear from her as she moderated two panels at the Game ChangeHER event. Joan's new book is all about the science behind team chemistry and winning the locker room. One of the most important parts of team chemistry comes from trust within the athletes. She gave the example of Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds, while they may have not enjoyed each others company they trusted each other implicitly on the field. Leading both to have career years and honors in their time together in San Francisco. At Mercy we try to build trust within our teams through the leadership of our captains. This year we have scheduled more overnights and tournaments early in the season with the goal of bonding on and off the field as that is an important part of team and program building.