SMC's New Student Athlete Leadership Team

Almost every college student knows the feeling of having more things to do than there are hours in a week. The stress of trying to balance all their responsibilities can be daunting to even the strongest student. One specific demographic: student athletes, have a particularly hard time juggling all their commitments. The strain of classes, practice, traveling to for competition, and their responsibilities at home and at work can make it difficult for these athletes to stay afloat.

Attempting to balance all these responsibilities has derailed many students. That’s why Santa Monica College’s (SMC) Athletic Department is trying to find an innovative way to help.

Nedra Brown, the Assistant Athletic Director at SMC has a plan to help student athletes both on and off of campus. While Brown has only been working at the Athletic Department for 10 months, she has already created a plan to put SMC’s Athletic Department ahead of all other community colleges nationwide.

This plan is her Student Athlete Leadership Team (SALT). In this program, coaches delegate one or two players from their team who could benefit from learning new leadership techniques to act as representatives to the athletic department on behalf of their teams. Along with acquiring leadership skills, athletes are able to act as a liaison between their team and the athletic department. The representatives will be able to advocate for their teammates needs both on and off the court.

When asked about how she came up with this idea, Brown said, “This is a mimic of what the NCAA (National College Athletic Association) does with their Special Athletics Committee. So basically, what I did, was curtail it to the needs of community college students."

Faculty and students alike seem to love the addition of the SALT and think it will be a beneficial . SMC women’s tennis team captain Irene Feher said, “SALT is a great leadership effort to promote the athletic department at SMC. Not many student athletes are aware of the benefits of being a student athlete and hopefully we can spread awareness so more students at SMC will participate in athletics.” 

Women’s tennis team head coach Richard Goldenson also expressed his approval, he said, “I attended the first SALT meeting and found it to be very empowering for the students on the team and, in turn, the entire athletic department and school...SALT is one way SMC can nurture future leaders who will make an impact on society.”

Besides helping with academics, a major concern of athletes and the athletic department was fan involvement at sports games. When asked about what she wants SALT to accomplish in the coming years, Brown said “For one, better academic support services. Also, more engagement with the sports by the campus and surrounding communities. In my opinion, we just don’t have enough fan support. I hate to see our students perform in empty areas.” 

The football team generally tends to agree with Brown. Players said that they have been clamoring for more crowd support from students and faculty from quite some time without much luck.

Brown said that plans for changes in athletics and academics could be implemented as soon as the Fall 2018 semester, but a more realistic time frame is the Spring 2019 semester.