North Carolina State University Athletics
Hanna Halteman: 2008 SAAC Retreat (9/4/08)
9/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
Last week, the members of the NC State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee packed our bags and headed for the beach to begin our much-anticipated annual retreat.
After a crazy van ride with our fearless leader, Tonya Washington, behind the wheel, we arrived at the Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell, eager to begin the festivities. It was good to be on our feet again (we love you Tonya.)
This year we were fortunate enough to have Demetrious Marlowe direct
us in our growth as both individuals and a successful SAAC team. Mr.
Marlowe led various team-building exercises in order to emphasize his
discussion about leadership.
One such activity, which we referred to as the vision exercise, taught us
the importance of having a plan of action appropriate for accomplishing
its end goal. We divided into three groups and each group was given a picture of a structure made of Tinker Toys that we had to replicate with our own set of Tinker Toys. The catch: the only member of the team allowed touch the any of the pieces was blindfolded.
In order to complete the task, the remaining members had to guide the blindfolded
teammate on what to grab and how to fit it together to build the
structure. Although challenging, the Vision exercise was tots of fun and
demonstrated the importance of patience, trust, and encouragement in
teamwork.
Before we broke for the evening, we watched the Disney movie “Eight Below,”
in which we observed the various styles of leadership we studied in our
discussion with Mr. Marlowe earlier that day. We all enjoyed the movie and
had a great time laughing at Mr. Marlowe when he interrupted the film with some
pretty impressive snoring skills and at Tonya when she was overcome with
emotion at the reunion of the dogs and their owner.
The next day we met for breakfast and reconvened in the classroom again
to start the planning process for some of the exciting events that SAAC will host this coming year, such as our Late Night Talley Party, the
sequel to our SudanCan Concert from last year, the student athlete Talent
Show and, we hope, many more. Then, we packed our bags once again, and left town,
though not before stopping for a well-earned lunch at our favorite
restaurant (and one of the only restaurants) in town.
This year’s SAAC retreat was another great success, and we are all looking
forward to taking what we learned back to our weekly SAAC meetings, as
well as our respective teams. Much thanks to Tonya and Mr. Marlowe for a
great experience.
Hanna Halteman
Women's basketball
