Research the program, Life of An Athlete; it's an idea for improvement

Letter to the Editor,

Normally, I do not respond to letters in our community newspaper, but I feel the need to clarify some recent statements in response to a program called the Life of An Athlete. 

I wish to support Ms. Johnson’s personal appeal to our school board to really check this program out as well as parents and other members of the community.  We have been sharing parts of this program with our students this year. I have already sent invitations to our school board to attend meetings on this philosophy. 

It is a research-based program that deals with what it takes for a person to be the best athlete they can be. John Underwood has spent many years testing and training the best athletes in the United States at Olympic training centers and has devoted much of his individual time sharing this information with high schools around the nation.  Several schools and states have adopted his guidelines.  

The success of his philosophy can be found around the nation. So, please follow Ms. Johnson’s admonition and really check this program out, and it will sell itself.

Actually, only a small part of the overall program deals with training rules and consequences for illegal use of tobacco, drugs and alcohol. It is a comprehensive program that deals with what the best athletes in the country do to maximize their potential. It offers research-based information on the effects of alcohol, tobacco, certain types of drugs, nutrition, sleep patterns, training principles and stress on performance.  And this only scratches the surface of this holistic program.    

Students learn behavior  that gives them the best chance for success in their sport-specific area and these behavioral patterns occur during practice, competition, in the classroom, in the public, and with parent involvement, in the home.  

Once learned and followed many athletes who adopted this philosophy of behavior attest to the fact that it is also life changing in some cases. And indeed, there are consequences for behavior, both good and bad, as in life. I am not sure what Johnson is trying to say with the zero-tolerance concept, but this program is based on a concept of restorative justice which is a central concept used in juvenile behavior.  

It recognizes that young people will sometimes make poor decisions and it outlines definitive procedures to get the student back. In fact, the philosophy of this program is far less punitive than the one that we presently have.  

And finally, the last clarification — John Underwood has never written a school policy. What he does do is share some time-proven principles that he has seen as commonalities in the best athletes in the country. We are in the process of developing a program for Libby Schools  utilizing these principles.  We have shared information with the students at Libby Middle High School and have invited school board members to our meetings.  

We will be prepared to show a draft of our policy utilizing the principles in The Life of An Athlete to the school board in May.  Before that time,  there will be  opportunities for the community to be engaged in this discussion.  

And lastly, I might add that contained in the policy are guidelines for communication that have proven to be the most successful when one party has a specific grievance with another party, and that, Ms. Johnson, you may want to pay close attention to.     

 — Wayne Baker

Libby