Section VII Hosts Engaging Inaugural Student-Athlete Leadership Summit

When you see Section VII student-athletes on the field, the court, the ice, or wherever else it may be, they are always competing and supporting their teammates.

No matter their school affiliation and who they play for, all have one thing in common — being a student-athlete.

This June, the Section’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) organized its inaugural Student-Athlete Leadership Summit. SAAC is comprised of student-athletes from Section VII who serve as an advocating voice for the betterment of athletics in the region.

This first-of-its-kind event was held at The Lodge at Schroon Lake and welcomed over 100 student-athletes from around the Section to participate in conversations and exercises that focused on mental health, leadership, and so many other qualities that help student-athletes succeed.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Students were separated into three groups and attended three 40-minute breakout sessions with three different themes.

Longtime educator and coach Chris Mazzella led one session that focused on what it takes to be a leader.

Gena Trombley, a former Section VII standout athlete and now Mental Performance Consultant, presented on how to take care of yourself as a student-athlete.
SAAC leaders Aiden Pearl (Seton Catholic) and Callie Racine (Northeastern Clinton) led icebreaker and team-building exercises, where the student-athletes let loose a bit and had plenty of laughs.

“We had been working to put on the leadership summit for a while, and all our planning certainly paid off,” Pearl said. “The day brought together student-leaders from across our Section to learn and grow from talented speakers and each other. Student-athletes had a great time at the event and left the summit with new skills and knowledge to take back to their teams and schools.”

PLANNING MAKES PERFECT

SAAC met multiple times throughout the school year, and right from the start, the group knew it wanted to hold a leadership summit.
The biggest hurdle was finding a time for student-athletes to convene together with their busy schedules.

Plans started to come together once Section VII student representatives attended the New York State Public High School Association Leadership Conference in March.

“We really took in a lot from the state event, and that’s when we started to make our own event plan come to life,” Section VII Executive Director Matthew Walentuk said.
“The students all went into this with an open mind. You could see as they went from session to session, they were understanding more and more what this was about. The best part was the students were the ones who planned this, and they got to see their hard work pay off.”

BRINGING STUDENTS TOGETHER

SAAC intends to have more athlete summits in the future and knows its first year was a great success.

“I think the Student Leadership Conference helped student-athletes realize their competitors are a lot like them,” Racine said. “There really are no other events in our area like this where so many student-athletes can meet in an uncompetitive setting where they can work together to become better leaders and better people.”

At the end of the day, Mazzella served as the keynote speaker and shared more thoughts on what it takes to be a leader and showed an inspirational video featuring NBA on TNT host Ernie Johnson addressing Alabama’s football team and how to be a better human.
Students left feeling inspired and more prepared to be advocates for themselves and Section VII.

Not even an hour after the session, multiple student-athletes reached out to Section VII representatives to find out how they could join SAAC.

“I really believe this was a great experience to expand their boundaries of athletics and see how much of an impact they can make for each other,” Walentuk said. “We will definitely be planning more events like this and finding ways to continue to support our student-athletes.”

Read more stories from our Annual Report here.