Why?

We believe in building an environment for student-athletes that fosters academic excellence and the opportunity to compete to win championships, while providing an experience that equips players with skills to succeed in the classroom, on the field, and in life beyond sports.

 

How?

By staying on the cutting edge of technology and methodology, we give our student-athletes a competitive advantage by providing resources that enhances training and recovery while reducing injury and maximizing the efficiency of the time spent in sport related activities.

 

What?

Using a virtual reality football simulator, we replicate game-like situations while limiting the energy and physical contact which can be taxing on the mind and body.

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NCAA Division I athletics, particularly college football, has many interesting dynamics with regards to why. In this setting, we are looking at my "why" relative to athletics and building a new virtual reality unit, but the when appealing to the hearts of many, the "why" differs. One of the first philosophical questions in this sense is, why is athletics a part of higher education? Here are some of the wide range of possible answers:

• The premise of higher education is experiential learning, not vocational. This idea proposes that the experience of completing the lesson is more important than the lesson itself. Much of what is learned in college is often forgotten soon after graduation, but the process of time management, work ethic, and critical thinking are lessons that will last a lifetime. Many argue that student-athletes learn more in college than someone that did not have the opportunity to play sports. Some examples of the lessons learned through the experience of sports are teamwork, the ability to push yourself beyond what you thought you were able, leadership, the ability to follow, overcoming adversity in a high pressure situation, etc.

• Sports has long been on the forefront of civil rights. Many athletics departments' mission statements say that athletics is used to help increase diversity on campus. This concept is important to those that understand that you can not learn as much in a homogeneous setting; especially when it comes to experiential learning.

• A good football or basketball team can affect the academic profile of a university. This answer tends to be denied by the academic purists or the mind/body dualists. Examples of schools becoming more selective based on athletic success are the University of Miami for football in the 1980's, the University of Wisconsin football in the 1990's, and the University of Michigan for basketball with the Fab 5 also in the 1990's.

• Revenue: TV contracts, apparel, ticket and concession sales, bowl bonuses, and development

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Additional to the reasons above, the more realistic take on why help the student-athletes get better is because of the pressure to win for the everyone involved with the program. Coaching staffs do not stay intact very long. If you are losing, the whole staff will get fired in about four years. If you are winning, much or all of the staff will turn over in that same four years, because either they found a better opportunity, or they get on the front-end of another contract or head coach. It is important to get on the front-end of these contracts because people do not get to keep their jobs in football unless you have the right last name. I know from experience, momentarily being out of a job right now; not because of my performance, but because my supervisor left. He wanted to get on the front-end of another head coach. It was a good move for him. 

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Dr. Kotter speaks of urgency in his video. If you want to learn what it means to feel a sense of urgency, work in the NFL or Division I football for one month. We work on the low-end, 90-hour work weeks, and at a high pace. There is always something that needs to be done right now, even if you are highly organized. It takes a lot of work and adjusting on the fly to run a program. 

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The "why's" that speak to the heart in sports, range from the student-athlete experience to fandome. The good thing is if the product is something that will help make the players better within the rules of the game, it is an easy sell. The virtual reality machine was first proposed around the beginning of December, and the million dollar project is already under construction.  The mobile unit should be installed by the end of February.

 

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Work Cited:

 

Kotter, J. (2011). The heart of change. [video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NKti9MyAAw

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Kotter, J. (2013). Leading change: Establish a sense of urgency. [video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yfrj2Y9IlI

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Sinek, S. (2014). Start with why: Ted talk short edited. [video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPYeCltXpxw