A Day with the Kids

A Smile Says More Than A Thousand Words: Part 2

So…How did it go?

            I can honestly say that my experience was one of the most rewarding I have had as an undergraduate at Wake Forest (except perhaps getting an A on my Quant 2 midterm!) In all seriousness though, being able to interact with and bring a smile to the children through the sport of tennis was a moment that will take a long time to erase from my memory. I know that I speak for my entire team also when I say that without a doubt we wish we had been doing this much longer and there was already some form of relationships in place with establishments similar to this in the local community.

            In terms of rating the success of the project, I couldn’t personally rate it any higher than 10 out of 10. Although teaching the kids the fundamentals of tennis was certainly a part of the objective, it wasn’t the entirety of it. Most of my motivation to do the project was to promote our team’s awareness of the local community and give back to it. Spending our free time with children such as those we met on the day demonstrates our understanding of community involvement and I believe made a difference in the lives of the children we spent time with. I will refer back to and analyze the specific measurable goals outlined above later in this reflection.

Evaluation Time

            Throughout the afternoon I was constantly being monitored and analyzed, firstly by the supervisors of the children who had to ensure the activities we were doing weren’t too dangerous and that the kids were being well behaved. Secondly, my coaches were overseeing the drills and aiding me in correcting faulty technique. All of this analysis and observation was certainly encouraged as I mentioned earlier that I would use this feedback to evaluate the success of my leadership and teaching. Overall I believe I performed extremely well given the task at hand and having never organized or led an event such as this before. From talking to the volunteer leaders in the several days following the experience they were all extremely surprised and impressed by my patience and understanding with the children as well as my willingness to try and get to know each of them personally. The volunteers made comments such as; “you even remembered all of the kid’s names. That kind of thing isn’t very common for us” and “when can you come back?” To me this kind of positive feedback thoroughly reinforces the confidence in my ability to lead in unique and challenging situations in which I have little experience.

            On the flip side, my coaches did offer me some constructive criticism to take on board and improve on during my next venture into this field; “some of the kids required more explanation of why they were holding the racket in a specific manner, rather than just showing them how to hold it.” I think this is an extremely valid point and not just related to tennis but leadership in general. If you can demonstrate why a certain technique for solving a problem is the best or desired way, then I think your followers are more likely to understand and learn from it as opposed to just blindly doing it but not understanding it. This feedback truly has helped me as a leader and in the weeks following this experience I have tried to implement this more into my leadership skill set.

            In evaluating potential changes for the next time this session happens, I would reduce the number of team players that went with me and break it up into maybe two different sessions. Having all 9 of my teammates there at the same time led to a little too much free time for them and sometimes they would take advantage of this by talking to one another and letting me or another teammate interact with the children (free rider effect). By reducing the team size next time and making two separate sessions I think this problem could easily be resolved. Overall however, I think I did a good job and this was certainly reflected throughout my feedback sessions with coaches, players and volunteer leaders. In analyzing my attainment of the measurable goals set before the clinic; all 9 of my teammates were prepared and excited about continuing this kind of program and implementing it as an event at least once per semester. Secondly the volunteer leaders gave me a unanimous 10 out of 10 rating, although I think they were perhaps just being nice by saying this, they definitely enjoyed the afternoon and were extremely grateful for our time, energy and effort.

Implementing Theory

            As touched on above, servant leadership is the model upon which I developed my experience. What this theory states is that effective leaders grow up through a system where they give priority and attention to those that they serve. Throughout my leadership journey and education this has been one of the theories I have gravitated to the most and feel I will implement more often in my life moving forwards. The reason for this is that I think it is a very selfless leadership theory and I believe this reflects me and my personality in leading more than other potential leadership styles.

Using this lens to critique my performance as leader of the tennis clinic, I would say I utilized this style effectively. Throughout my life I have been a student of the game of tennis and it is through this constant striving to better myself and my abilities that I have achieved a high playing level. What the clinic enabled me to do was design and implement a vision of helping those in need around me through the sport of tennis. For some of the children they found happiness in being able to go from missing the ball to making contact, for others it was hitting 5 balls back to me in a row and for a few it was just being able to interact with an elder who they admire. Yet all of these outcomes circle back to my learning of tennis as an understudy, then wanting to give back my knowledge and expertise to others less fortunate than myself. I truly believe that a main cause of the great success of the afternoon was to do with my leadership style and being able to instill in the young children a new found confidence through this servant leadership technique.

The Future…

            As discussed above, the sustainability of this project is truly where the tarmac hits the road and will be the ultimate deciding factor in the success of my leadership and volunteering effort. With our senior banquet scheduled to be held in less than a week I am getting ready to hand the responsibility of the role to our new captain. We have already spoken several times about this added feature of captaincy and he is excited to continue this ‘giving back’ initiative. He has spoken with the volunteer director of the Children’s Home at least once already, thanks to my introductions, and they are currently outlining potential dates for a clinic in early February.

            I am also in the final stages of drafting a contract for all players to sign before the end of the year, pledging their allegiance to this cause and commitment to the dates their new captain finalizes. I believe I have gone to quite extensive lengths to ensure that this program will be carried forward for the foreseeable future and I hope one day to return as an alumnus and see players still offering their time in the community.

Finally I would like to thank both the Children’s Home for their support as well as my professor for instigating this project and making me think about issues I have the power and desire to change, yet hadn’t furthered myself to act on…until now.