ATHLETICS

听Learn the basics of cheers, dances, stunts, pyramids and tumbling for cheerleaders. Open to girls and boys.

Age Group:听Grades K through 9

When:听July 11-13

Where: 麻豆原创 Education Building Gymnasium

Last Day to Apply:听June 1

Coach ABE鈥檚 Girls鈥� Basketball Camp: Prepare for the pace of college basketball with 麻豆原创 women鈥檚 basketball head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson and her staff, who will work with players on a variety of individual and team skills.

Age Group:听Grades 8 through 12

When:听June 15

Where: CFE Arena

Johnny Dawkins Basketball Camp Advance your basketball skills, working firsthand with 麻豆原创 men鈥檚 basketball head coach Johnny Dawkins and his staff. Open to boys and girls.

Age Group:听Grades 1 through 12, depending on the camp selected

When:听June 4-8, 18-20, 23-24, 25

Where: CFE Arena and 麻豆原创 basketball practice courts

Last Days to Apply:听June 3, 17, 22, 24

听Learn about the four phases of baseball: hitting, pitching, catching and fielding from 麻豆原创鈥檚 Head Baseball Coach and his staff.

Age Group:听听Grades K through 8

When:June18-21, 25-28, 9-12, 16-19

Where: 麻豆原创 baseball complex

Last Day to Apply:听June 2, 28, 12, 19

Develop your talent with 麻豆原创鈥檚 Head Baseball Coach and his staff while preparing to play baseball at the collegiate or professional level. This camp is designed for the serious baseball player.

When:听July 28, Aug. 25-26

Where: 麻豆原创 baseball complex

Last Day to Apply:听July 28, Aug. 26

Josh听Heupel Football Camps: Sign up for daily sessions for the chance to train under 麻豆原创 head football coach Josh Heupel and his staff. A three-day team camp is also available.

Age Group:听Grades 1 through 12, depending on the camp selected

When:听June 2, 6, 7, 15, 16, 17, 20-22

Where: 麻豆原创 football facilities

Learn about the coaching philosophy and training environment of a top-level Division 1 program. Based on age, players can sign up for either the Elite Residential Camp, Youth Day Camp or College ID Camp.

Age Group:听Ages 4-12, 10-14 and 14-21, depending on the camp selected

When:听May 31-June 3, June 4-8, July 12-15

Where: 麻豆原创 campus

Last Day to Apply:听Registration closes once capacity is reached.

麻豆原创 Knights Boys Soccer Camp: Join the 麻豆原创 coaching staff and players for a fun-filled learning experience on the campus of 麻豆原创. Based on age players can sign-up for either the Youth Day Camp & Futsal, Junior Elite Camp or Elite ID 150

Age Groups: Ages 6-12, 听11-14 and 15-18, depending on the camp selected.

When: June 11-14, July 8-10, July 20-22

Where: 麻豆原创 Campus

Last Day to Apply: Registration closes once capacity is reached.

听Hone your offensive, pitching, catching and defensive skills.

Age Group:听Open to all entrants, but geared toward advanced 7th graders through junior college students

When:听June 11, 12

Where: 麻豆原创 softball complex

Last Day to Apply:听June 1

Join 麻豆原创 head volleyball coach Todd Dagenais and his staff for the annual summer camp.

Age Group:听Ages 10-14 and 15-18, depending on the camp selected

When:听July 13-15, 16, 17-18, 21-23, 24-27, 28-29

Where: The Venue at 麻豆原创 and Lake Claire

Last Day to Apply:听July 12, 15, 16, 20, 23, 27

麻豆原创 Boys & Girls Tennis Camps: Get personal attention while learning advanced teaching techniques, intensive drill work and game/match play, all in a fun and competitive environment.

Age Group:听Ages 7-18

When:听July 22-27

Where: United States Tennis Association campus in Lake Nona

Last Day to Apply:听July 1

ARTS

Challenge your theatrical abilities with a variety of artistic offerings from Lighting McQueen and Friends to Hamilton鈥檚听Hip Hop History.

Age Group:听Grades 1 through 10, depending on the camp selected

When:听July 16颅-20, 23颅-27

Where:听麻豆原创 Main Campus

麻豆原创 Summer Reading Clinic: Develop your reading and writing skills with help from undergraduate education students. The final session includes a parent celebration demonstrating family literacy activities.

Age Group:听Grades K through 6

When:听June 11-22

Where: 麻豆原创 main campus

麻豆原创 Digital Storytelling Camp: Embark on reading adventures through digital storytelling during a week-long camp.

Age Group:听Grades K through 6

When:听June 11-15, 18-22

Where: 麻豆原创 main campus

麻豆原创 Rosen College Camp Pineapple:听Learn more about the hospitality and tourism industry by spending time in culinary labs, meeting industry leaders and visiting sites for behind-the-scenes access.

Age Group: Grades 9 through 11

When: June 24-29

Where: 麻豆原创 Rosen of Hospitality Management College Campus

Last Day to Apply: May 18, registration closes once capacity is reached.

MUSIC

麻豆原创 Flute Boot Camp: Develop your flute skills with a three-day intensive program designed to educate and inspire young players.

Age Group:听Grades 6 through 12

When:听June 8-10

Where: Performing Arts Center 鈥� Music 120M

Last Day to Apply:听June 1, however, enrollment will close once capacity is reached.

麻豆原创 Summer Flute and Piccolo Institute:听Learn more about every aspect of a flute performance through weeklong intensive program aimed at educating and inspiring young flutists through an interesting and cultivating curriculum.

Age Group:听Grades 6 through 12

When:听June 11-15, 18-22

Where:听麻豆原创 Performing Arts Center 鈥� Music 120M and Rehearsal Hall

Last Day to Apply:听June 1, however, enrollment will close once capacity is reached.

麻豆原创 Piano Camp: Improve your musical prowess with private lessons, group practice, sight-reading classes and more.

Age Group:听Ages 11 to 18

When:听June 24-30

Where:听Performing Arts Center 鈥� Music and Rehearsal Hall

Last Day to Apply:听June 1, however, enrollment will close once capacity is reached.

麻豆原创 Sax Boot Camp:听Learn more about the saxophone during this three-day intensive program designed to educate and inspire young saxophonists.

Age Group:听Grades 6 through 12

When:听June 8-10

Where:听麻豆原创 Performing Arts Center 鈥� Music and Rehearsal Hall

Last Day to Apply:听June 1, however, enrollment will close once capacity is reached.

麻豆原创 Summer Opera Institute:听Take voice lessons, participate in master classes, get private coaching, and study diction, acting, and movement during this intensive 10-day program that culminates with a final concert June 24.

Age Group:听Grades 9 and up

When:听June 15-24

Where:听Performing Arts Center 鈥� Music and Rehearsal Hall; Visual Arts Building Auditorium

Last Day to Apply:听June 1

麻豆原创 Percussion Summer Institute: Study closely with 麻豆原创 percussion faculty Thad Anderson, Kirk Gay, and Jeff Moore, as well as special guest artists Brian Baldauff and Jonathan Ovalle.

Age Group:听Grades 10 through college

When:听July 15-21

Where:听Performing Arts Center 鈥� Music

Last Day to Apply:听July 1, however, enrollment will close once capacity is reached.

STEM

听Gain experience with various engineering fields through hands-on activities, presentations and lab tours.

Age Group:听Grades 8 through 11, participants must be at least 13

When:听June 11-15

Where:听Harris Corporation Engineering Center (HEC) 101 on the 麻豆原创 Main Campus

Last Day to Apply:听May 11

Learn beginner and intermediate computer security techniques and preparation for cyber competitios through daily challenges and hands-on labs.

Age Group:听Grades 9 through 12

When:听July 23鈥�26

Where:听Harris Corporation Engineering Center on the 麻豆原创 Main Campus

Last Day to Apply:听June 30

EEK! Engineering Education for Kids: Solve real world engineering problems through activities that will excite, inspire and challenge.

Age Group:听Grades 3 through 8

When:听June 25 – 29

Where:听麻豆原创 College of Education and Human Performance

Last Day to Apply:听June 20

Explore different branches of sciences while receiving individualized instruction in the following tracks: biology, computer science, competitive programming and physical sciences.

Age Group:听Grades 6 through 12

When:听Varying dates between June 11 and July 27

Where:听Harris Corporation Engineering Center on the 麻豆原创 Main Campus

Last Day to Apply:听June 30

Teamwork is essential to the productivity and maximization of corporations, businesses, or the workplace. I’m invited into their world so they can peek behind the curtain into my world.听

One element I include in every presentation focuses on the mistakes I made as a young leader, almost destroying my teams before they ever had a chance to taste success.

There are no standard operating procedure manuals on how to be a head coach. Someone doesn’t magically become an enlightened leader by sitting in the chair placed behind a desk. There were many — and I mean many — mistakes I made along the way. I hope others will learn from my mistakes, examine their own leadership style, and evaluate it for potentially catastrophic flaws.

The first lesson comes from longtime Texas football coach Mack Brown. His leadership philosophy includes the “Three Cs鈥�: Care, consistent and competent.

Coming to 麻豆原创 from coaching the USA Volleyball National Team and the University of Southern California, I hope my team already knew I was competent. I brought the training techniques and strategies, but deep down the team was looking for someone who cared about them, who cared about their families, and cared about the day鈥搕o-day stress they endured as student-athletes. I failed horribly at this my first two years. I was so driven on improving the team image and putting wins in the victory column that I lost sight that I was coaching people, not volleyball. Those people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.

I also struggled with consistency. As a young coach, I was going through so many early career struggles on and off the court. One day I would come in energized, the next I would come in like I just lost my puppy dog. Other days I would come in stressed and take it out on the first person who crossed me. The staff and team never knew which one to expect, and therefore often walked on pins and needles until they figured out who was leading them that day. I failed to understand the importance of providing the consistent leadership our team needed to freely chase its dreams and goals. Instead, they spent that energy worrying about my mood and how it was going to affect them every day.

Next lesson: Should we deliver our message with a hammer or a pillow?

I was the ultimate taskmaster those first few years. Although it was never said, I clearly portrayed a “my way or the highway” attitude. I wasn’t going to allow anyone to challenge me, and I had no room for gray area. My gym was black and white. You were either with me or you were against me.

Feedback was given with a “hammer” to make sure my rigid points of emphasis were driven home with authority. This was the worst possible leadership style. The truth is, those who use this style are insecure about their leadership ability, and use ruthlessness to mask their fear of being exposed. The moment I considered the fact my players were people first, I quickly altered my leadership style. When a message needed to be delivered, there were plenty of opportunities to deliver that message with a “pillow” instead. The resentment and complaining in the locker room decreased dramatically.

I stopped at the ATM for some cash one day last week to use on a recruiting trip. This brings me to my next leadership mistake: the bank.听 Every person you lead has a figurative “bank account.” Every time a leader unfairly, unequally or unjustly criticizes their employee, that leader is making a withdrawal from that person’s account. Eventually the account balance hits zero and the leader has lost all trust and understanding from those they lead.

I needed an eye-opening talk from my captains and coaching staff to help me realize that I needed to spend more time making deposits into my players鈥� accounts. A phone call here, a note card there, a text message of encouragement are all ways to make deposits in a person’s account. As leaders, especially as leaders with high expectations, we are bound to make a few withdrawals along the way. This is why it’s so important to make a deposit every opportunity we get.

“You are the weakest link…Goodbye.” If you remember the TV game show Weakest Link, you will understand the premise of my next mistake. The game show featured contestants competing for money by rapidly answering trivia questions from a snarky woman who constantly reminded them how unintelligent and incompetent they were. The lowest score was kicked off the show until only two contestants remained.听

A team is only as strong as its weakest link, as we have heard hundreds and hundreds of times. Now when I say “weakest link” I’m referring to the team member with the least amount of skill.听 A weakest link with attitude or effort issues must be first given an opportunity to rise up to the level of the team; if they don’t, then they lose the privilege of being a part of the team.

As a coach who was all about performance, I subconsciously made the “weakest link” feel as if their insufficient skill level was a detriment to our team鈥檚 success. Often, the weakest links would simply cave in and quit the team. However, the opposite was sometimes true. Our team often adored the weakest link, they respected the weakest link, and they fiercely defended the weakest link. Worse yet, after seeing what happens to the weakest link, deep down they would worry about becoming the next weakest link. These fears built up a significant amount of anxiety and fear among our players. Anxiety and fear will undermine any leader. By singling out the weakest link, I created a significant morale issue.

To address and make this change, I started creating opportunities to allow the weakest link to shine in public. While their skill level wouldn’t help us on the court, their unselfishness could have a huge impact on our program. Sometime we have these players represent our entire program at a community function. Sometimes we would name them as a chair for a team committee, or plan a team function. Anything we could do to allow these players to be successful in the eyes of the coaching staff and teammates were opportunities to elevate the back end of our roster, instead of constantly alienating them. Again, this practice improved team moral significantly.

Lastly, sometimes a leader has to stand in the spotlight and “take a bullet.” I would find myself criticizing our setter when the offense was sluggish, or our blocking when a team was scoring at will. I can look back and see old news conferences where I would throw a player or two under the bus, because I didn’t want anyone to think the team was ill prepared by the coaching staff — namely me. A good leader will stand up to the scrutiny and say “we” need to be better or “I need to do a better job” of putting my team in a position to be successful.听

Don’t be afraid to admit you were wrong as a leader. Don’t be afraid to show vulnerability to those you lead. You can still be open and vulnerable while providing the vision your team follows, the structure they need to hold them up, and the community action they need to feel like an important part of the group.

Examine yourself to see if you are a leader that puts people first. Are you allowing them to have fun? What are you doing to make them feel invested? How can you find ways where they can help steer the direction of your team.

As a leader, I was far from perfect. I still make leadership errors. Showing that you are competent isn’t enough; you must be consistent and you must care.

If you don’t, the balance sheet will eventually hit zero. You will suddenly find yourself walking your vision down a pathway, but when you turn around to look, nobody will be following you.

Todd Dagenais is 麻豆原创鈥檚 head volleyball coach. He can be reached at tdagenais@athletics.ucf.edu.

听

I love movie lines. So many epic motivational themes about overcoming obstacles come from movies like 鈥淏raveheart,鈥� 鈥淩ocky鈥� and 鈥淩emember the Titans.鈥�

Admittedly my opening quote doesn鈥檛 come from any one of these award-winning cinematic masterpieces. It comes from the much-less-appreciated classic 鈥淒umb and Dumber.鈥� Yet 鈥渁 chance鈥� has become a seven-year running theme for our 麻豆原创 Volleyball program.

Nearly eight years ago I walked into a room of about 10 young women who just lost their coach and suffered through two humiliating seasons in which their conference record was 1-31. I was their new coach, and I was expected to make them a nationally competitive team. I knew that 麻豆原创 was a great school, in a great location, and the athletic department had the full support of the university to be nationally competitive in all sports.

Therefore, I knew 麻豆原创 Volleyball had 鈥渁 chance.鈥�

Sure, this was going to be the greatest challenge in my career. As a matter of fact, as far as we could tell, no team has ever become a conference champion in women鈥檚 volleyball in the years after suffering through a season with zero wins. Combined with the fact that all current and future team members would come from the often criticized 鈥渋Y鈥� Generation made 鈥� those younger Millennials born after 1990 鈥� the challenge was听even greater.听

Would I be able to find enough players who didn鈥檛 feel 鈥渆ntitled鈥� or demand 鈥済uaranteed鈥� playing time? Even if I did, would they have the athletic ability, talent and dedication necessary to do something that has never been done before?

Standing in that room, in front of those players, I made only one 鈥済uarantee.鈥� If they commit to being the best teammate they have ever been, if they are willing to work physically harder than they ever worked before, and if they commit to being the best possible students they can be, then I would guarantee them one thing:听a chance.

The first team worked more than 1,000 hours in the gym, on the track, in the weight room, classroom, and tutoring sessions. They did everything I asked them to, and it gave them their chance. They won six conference matches, the most since moving to a more competitive conference. Most importantly, they planted the seed that would grow for the next six seasons.

Over the next five seasons every recruit heard the same speech.听It went something this this:

鈥淚 make no guarantees. If you’re willing to do everything that I ask you to do, then you will be rewarded with ‘a chance.’ That chance is to be a member of my team.听If you are willing to train hard, make smart decisions, and earn good grades, then you may earn a chance to play. While playing, if you are able to perform well, handle the constant pressure, and manage performance anxiety then you may earn a chance to start. If I could get enough like-minded starters who share the same goals, then we would have a chance to win.”

The 2008 team planted the seed, the 2009-2013 teams watered the seed, grew the plants, and protected them from the weeds. They were faithful to our core beliefs, ideals, and vision. They made lifelong friends, earned a wonderful education, traveled the country, but they never felt the satisfaction of being a champion. Those six teams were merely setting the table for the 2014 team to seize the ultimate chance.

The core group of the 2014 麻豆原创 Women’s Volleyball team has been in place for nearly four years. In those years they practiced 22 weeks a year for 20 hours a week. They were also full-time students with extremely high academic expectations. The amount of hours that they have invested in the classroom, on the court, in the weight room, and in the athletic training room, numbered in the thousands. Yet, those hours guaranteed them nothing more than a chance.

However, we knew that with six seniors on our roster, this was the golden opportunity to make a major breakthrough if we prepared the right way.

We needed to do something special to prepare this team for the start of the 2014 season in August. In May, our team raised nearly $40,000 and we took a team training trip to Winnipeg, Canada. While in Winnipeg we lived together, ate together, and trained against the Canadian national team every single day for a week.

Despite all of the money raised, all the training time, and a week鈥檚 worth of competition against the Canadians, we were never guaranteed a successful fall season. It only gave us 鈥渁 chance.鈥�

After we returned from Canada the players took a few weeks off and then reported back to campus to begin a summer term. Not just one or two players were there, but the entire team. Lifting and running in the grueling Florida heat and humidity can be relentless and demanding, but they suffered through it together. Still, all those hours on the track, and all those hours in the weight room, didn’t promise us anything definite.

Our team reported to practice in early August with high hopes and great expectations. The coaching staff made a decision to play the toughest pre-season schedule possible to prepare us for the American Athletic Conference season.

As fate would have it, the first weekend of conference matches were on the road against SMU and Tulsa. Both teams were picked to finish in the top three in the American Athletic Conference. Somehow, we found a way to earn close wins both matches and started the conference season 2-0. This fantastic weekend may have given us the early lead in the conference standings, but we were far from a conference championship.听 Those two wins, however, did give us a jump-start.

Over the next eight weeks, our players went through the most intense practices and volleyball matches they have had in their lives. Each coaching staff member was working 80-100 hours per week watching film, creating scouting reports, and preparing the team to compete successfully.

Finally, on Nov. 23, we were standing face to face with 鈥渢he chance.鈥澨� Seven years of work, thousands of hours of training, relentless belief that we would be in that position one day to do something special.听 That was the day, the day we had 鈥渢he chance.鈥�

With four matches remaining in the regular season we had a two-match lead in the conference standings.听 A win against Houston meant that 麻豆原创 Volleyball would defy history and officially go from 鈥渨orst to first鈥� in the conference. The match started at 7 p.m., and as you can see in the picture above at 8:46 p.m. we finally seized 鈥渙ur chance.鈥� We finished the season at 25-7 and earned a spot in the NCAA tournament.听

What you won鈥檛 see in the photo is the 55 players, six coaches and several managers and staffers who unselfishly gave everything they had from 2008 to 2013 just so the 2014 team could finally wear the championship ring.

Those people never asked for guarantees. They just wanted to make sure at some time, in some place, somebody who had walked in their shoes would have that 鈥渃hance.鈥� We dedicate this conference championship to all of those people.

Todd Dagenais is 麻豆原创鈥檚 head volleyball coach. He can be reached at tdagenais@athletics.ucf.edu.

“We played an incredibly efficient offensive match,” 麻豆原创 head coach Todd Dagenais said “Sunday road wins are hard to come by. The team is excited about what we’ve done so far. I’m feel like we deserve to be where we are at this point.”

After trading points to open the match, 麻豆原创 broke up a 6-6 tie with a kill from sophomore Kia Bright and took an 8-6 lead on a service ace from sophomore Shelby Foyer. Senior Jade Hayes served up an ace to give the Knights a 10-7 lead and prompt a Cincinnati timeout. The Bearcats came back to tie the set at 16, but a 5-0 麻豆原创 run that included kills from seniors Kaye-Alese Green and and junior Abbie Fleener extended the Knights’ lead to five, 21-16. The Black and Gold closed out the opening set with back-to-back blocks from Bright and Sarden to win the first set, 25-18.

The Knights opened the second set with three straight points. A Sarden kill pushed the 麻豆原创 lead out to 15-9, which Bright followed with an ace to give the Knights a 16-9 lead. The Bearcats battled back, matching the Knights kill for kill to cut the lead to three, 24-21, in favor of 麻豆原创. Cincinnati’s Madi Lang tied the set at 25, forcing the set into extra points. Green’s kill was answered with a kill from Emma Roberson to tie the set at 27, but Bright came up with a kill that gave the Knights a 28-27 lead. Bright teamed up with Sarden for a block that gave 麻豆原创 the 29-27 set win and a two-set lead in the match.

In the third set, Sarden gave the Knights a 2-0 lead before Cincinnati came back to knot the score at 4-4. A kill by Green put 麻豆原创 up 11-7 and forced a timeout for the Bearcats, but the Knights kept the momentum out of the huddle with a block from Green and Fleener. After giving the Knights a 16-11 lead with a kill, Sarden went back to serve, putting together a string of three points to push the 麻豆原创 lead to 19-11. Bright slammed consecutive kills, which were followed by back-to-back Cincinnati attack errors that gave 麻豆原创 the 25-15 set win and the straight set victory over the Bearcats.

“There are still some things that we need to work out,” Dagenais said. “This wasn’t a great all-around match. We were able to buckle down when we needed to. Where we are as a team–mentally, the effort, the energy, the perseverance–is everything I could ever ask for as a coach.”

DeLaina Sarden finished with 16 kills on 19 swings. Her .789 hitting percentage is the sixth-best percentage in a match in 麻豆原创 history. Sarden also had five blocks and three digs.

“DeLaina found ways to get herself into gaps and the setters found ways to get her the ball,” Dagenais said. “This could be the best offensive match I’ve seen her have; she was outstanding in her decision making. I think she put up national player of the week numbers.”

Kia Bright joined Sarden with double-figure kills, finishing with 13 while hitting .440 and recording five blocks. Senior Marie Reiterova posted her second straight double-double match, recording 24 assists and 10 digs. Jade Hayes posted a match-high 11 digs for the Knights, and junior Dana Faught tallied 20 assists for 麻豆原创.

“DeLaina did a great job with the matchups she was given this week,” 麻豆原创 head coach Todd Dagenais said. “She continues to be such a versatile part of our offense despite the fact that teams are game planning for her each and every week.”

Sarden hit a team-best .656 for the week and averaged 3.29 kills per set to lead the Knights to a pair of conference road wins. She finished with 15 kills, while hitting a season-high .650 in the win over in-state rival USF on Wednesday. In Sunday’s sweep of East Carolina, Sarden continued her offensive efficiency, hitting .667 with eight kills and no errors in 12 attempts. 麻豆原创 set an American Athletic Conference record for hitting percentage in a conference match, posting a .444 team hitting percentage.

She also served up back-to-back aces in a four-point run at the end of the second set against the Pirates, bringing her total to four aces for the week. For the week, she denied a team-best eight shots, averaging 1.14 blocks per set for the Knights, and led the team with 31.5 total points.

The Lawrenceville, Ga., native has been recognized four times as the American Player of the Week, earning the distinction three times in 2013. Sarden became the third Knight tabbed with the accolade this season, as sophomore Jale Hervey earned the first honor of the season and Kia Bright picked up the award last week.

We live in a world where clear, crisp communication is a must, where community and customer relations are critical to building and maintaining a loyal customer base, and teamwork is so important that corporations are actually consulting with successful athletics coaches to train departments to function as a team.

This brings up some very important questions: What is the cost of a bad hire? How much does the 鈥渂ottom line鈥� suffer when a new hire has difficulty acclimating and functioning in a team environment?

According to my colleagues, one bad hire can cost tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention the reduction in productivity and lowered company morale. Just think how much easier it would be if an employer could simply select from a highly qualified candidate pool already vetted over four or five years?

Critics seize every opportunity to say that 鈥渆ntitled鈥� student-athletes receive preferential treatment because they score points or bring in booster dollars.

Completely lost in the message of 鈥渨hat is wrong鈥� with college athletes is the monumental and uplifting story about 鈥渨hat is great鈥� about collegiate athletics. 麻豆原创 Athletics is pioneering an innovative program that will revolutionize how colleges and universities treat their student-athletes.

Thanks to a generous gift from the Wayne Densch Charitable Trust, work toward the 麻豆原创 Student-Athlete Leadership Institute has begun.听We are identifying our best and brightest student-athletes as freshman and sophomores. Once identified, we are investing significant amounts of time and resources by placing them in highly specialized seminars and training sessions. With the mantra of 鈥淒eveloping World-Class Leaders for a lifetime of Service and Success,鈥� the concept of the leadership institute will transcend the importance of wins and losses on the field of play. The only focus is to prepare those student-athletes for their first four years after graduation.

Once these high-potential student-athletes complete the four to five years of training, 麻豆原创 will create an entire genre of student-athletes who are 鈥渕arket-ready graduates.鈥澨齌hrough several partnerships, our athletic department has created the 鈥淔irst Round Draft Pick鈥� program in which companies have the opportunity to mentor and track these elite student-athletes, and be among the first to offer them employment upon graduation.

Now back to the question I asked you to ponder earlier: How expensive is a bad hire? And then consider: What if you had a candidate who has already proven beyond a shadow of a doubt he or she can be a synergistic leader in a cohesive team environment?听 What if you could hire a person who has already demonstrated the mastery of communication skills in a stressful and competitive environment? What if you had first pick of a candidate pool that has already has lived up to the standards of excellence and achievement demanded by their coaches and teammates?

My job isn鈥檛 just to win games鈥攖hat鈥檚 only part of my job. The most important part of my work is to make sure that I help shape and mold the mind of my student-athletes in a way that prepares them for life after their collegiate experience. Believe me, they have already survived and prospered under the toughest boss they will ever have. Balancing life issues, coping with stress, managing time and working with a team are already programmed into a student-athlete鈥檚 character.听Competitiveness, excellence, respect of authority and problem solving are already a part of their work culture.

Hire a high-achieving student-athlete and the chances are you will never have to worry about making one of those dreaded bad hires.

Todd Dagenais is 麻豆原创鈥檚 head volleyball coach. He can be reached at tdagenais@athletics.ucf.edu.

With wins over both SMU and Tulsa this weekend, the Knights (9-5, 2-0 AAC) defeated both the Mustangs and Hurricane on the road in the same season for the first time in program history.

鈥淭his marked the end of historic weekend for 麻豆原创 Volleyball,鈥� 麻豆原创 head coach Todd Dagenais said. 鈥淭o go on the road and defeat SMU and Tulsa was huge for us and it marks a milestone for the program.鈥�

Tulsa took an early lead, but the Knights slowly chipped away until a kill from sophomore Kia Bright tied the first set at 18. After trading points, senior Loren Cory gave 麻豆原创 the lead for good and the Knights capitalized with a 25-23 opening set win.

After a back-and-forth battle in the early going, the Hurricane used a six point run late in the second set to even the match at 1-1. The Knights broke up a 19-19 tie in set three with a kill and a block from senior Kaye-Alese Green, who also slammed a hard kill for 麻豆原创鈥檚 set point.

Trailing 12-8 in the fourth set, 麻豆原创 went on a 15-4 run that featured five blocks from the Knights. Two Tulsa timeouts could not stop the Black and Gold鈥檚 momentum and senior Marie Reiterova set up a kill for senior DeLaina Sarden for the set and match victory.

Coach Dagenais noted that the Knights really worked on blocking this week, which showed as 麻豆原创 finished with 12.5 team blocks. Green led 麻豆原创 with seven total blocks, including a pair of solo blocks. Sarden and Cory both finished with five blocks for the Knights.

麻豆原创 started off with a .438 hitting percentage in the opening set and continued the efficiency by hitting above .300 in all four sets. The Knights finished with a .371 hitting percentage as a team.

鈥淭oday it was our offense that allowed us to win the match,鈥� Dagenais said. 鈥淲e had a match where we had to fight, knowing that we weren鈥檛 doing something we鈥檙e capable of doing. We got over that fact and executed the areas that allowed us to win.鈥�

Sophomore Jale Hervey led the Knights with 17 kills while hitting .500 in the match. Green notched 12 kills while hitting .429 on the day. Bright tallied 15 kills for 麻豆原创 while senior Jade Hayes recorded a match-high 19 digs and served up an ace. Junior Dana Faught finished with 28 assists, and Reiterova tallied 26 assists.

鈥淚鈥檓 proud of the team for going 4-0 and not dropping a set along the way,鈥� 麻豆原创 head coach Todd Dagenais said. 鈥淚 thought we were remarkable at closing out sets all weekend.鈥�

FIU was not going to hand the title to 麻豆原创, as the Panthers jumped out to an early 10-5 lead but a 6-1 run from the Knights put 麻豆原创 on top. The Knights took the lead for good on a block from seniors Kaye-Alese Green and Ashley Gialenios. Once 麻豆原创 took the lead in the second set, they maintained it and persevered in the final set to become tournament champions.

麻豆原创 had four all-tournament selections, as senior middle blocker DeLaina Sarden, senior libero Jade Hayes, sophomore outside hitter Kia Bright and sophomore outside hitter Jale Hervey received the accolades.

Hervey led the Knights against FIU with 14 kills, while hitting .565 and serving up a team-high five aces. Hervey took home the tournament MVP honors, as she finished the weekend with 60 kills, 24 digs, and seven digs while hitting .481.

Bright added 12 kills and finished the match with eight digs. Hayes tallied double-digit digs for the fourth time this season, finishing with 13. Senior Marie Reiterova and junior Dana Faught had 17 and 15 assists, respectively.

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As a parent myself, I get it. You should be your kid’s biggest supporter. But for parents of high school athletes, in particular, it’s important to maintain perspective. Don’t lose sleep worrying about catering to every need of your athletic child. Don’t spend insane amounts of money trying to get your child noticed by college sport recruiters, and please don’t relentlessly chase that athletic scholarship.

Does it shock you this advice is coming from a Division I collegiate head coach?

With a Division I scholarship worth upwards of $250,000, the race to earn a scholarship can be quite intense. In reality, it鈥檚 starting to get out of control. Private lessons, video-production companies and recruiting services have become such an unnecessary part of high school sports. Let鈥檚 examine some of the facts.

Just how many scholarships are given each year, and what percentage of graduating high school players actually earn a Division I scholarship?

In women鈥檚 volleyball, for example, roughly 100,000 young players graduate from high school each year. Each of them is technically part of the college recruiting pool. All coaches have a very specific list of athletic requirements their prospects must meet, without any exception. If they don鈥檛 meet the athletic requirements, they don鈥檛 make the list. For my volleyball program at 麻豆原创, 100,000 prospects quickly dwindles to a recruiting pool of 1,500.

Now begins the toughest part of the process. College coaches begin to evaluate prospects on two of the most important requirements: academic ability and character.

The sport of women鈥檚 volleyball is quite fortunate. For the most part, young women playing our sport range between above average to elite in their academic profile. There have only been a couple of occasions in my seven years at 麻豆原创 when we were forced to eliminate a prospect due to a poor academic resume. Our team currently carries a 3.4 GPA, has a 100 percent graduation rate, and we are in the top 10 percent nationally in term of academic progress. Anyone who isn鈥檛 capable of maintaining my academic standards is off my list — again, with no exceptions.

It鈥檚 an incredible challenge to determine character and work ethic. We can decide in five minutes if someone has the athletic ability to play in our program, but sometimes it takes us more than a year to determine if they have the 鈥渃haracter鈥� to be a part of our program.

We spend time watching prospects at high school and club matches. We talk to their teachers and guidance counselors. We watch how they interact with their coaches, teammates and parents. A prospect’s true character is always revealed in moments of failure and stress.

Playing sports provides plenty of opportunities for both.

Corporate human resources and collegiate athletics recruiting are ironically similar. We seek out talented people, interview them, compare them to other candidates, and ultimately select the right person for the position. It鈥檚 extremely important that prospects understand they also are being judged by what they put on their Facebook page, and what they write and retweet on their Twitter account. One lapse in judgment could cost them $250,000. It鈥檚 already happened many, many times.

Our recruiting list that started at 100,000 and was cut to 1,500 based on athletic talents, now sits at 500 after we determine if the students are the right 鈥渇it鈥� for our program. So how many of those 500 prospects will get a scholarship offer from 麻豆原创? Three. That鈥檚 right鈥hree.

NCAA Women鈥檚 Volleyball allows 12 scholarships on a team per year, which equates to three in each graduating class. The odds are not very good, are they?

Even if we look at the national landscape, the odds don鈥檛 improve very much. There are 900-950 Division I scholarships awarded annually. Take into account the original 100,000 prospects, and then the true odds become painfully clear. Less than 1 percent of high school senior volleyball players are going to get a Division I scholarship. Add in Division II, Division III, NAIA, and Junior College combined, and less than 3 percent will be awarded a scholarship.

So my advice to parents of a high school athlete: Enjoy these years. Keep everything in perspective. An athletic scholarship shouldn’t be the goal; the goal should be all of the wonderful life lessons 鈥� achievement, defeat, teamwork 鈥� that sports can teach us.

Quit paying for private lessons and expensive club sports for the sole purpose of earning an athletic scholarship. Private lessons are for improving performance at something you love to do. Sports should be about enjoying the competition and spending time with friends who have similar interests. All that time and energy you are spending on being noticed by a college recruiter is better spent concentrating on academics.

Use that time to determine what skills your child is proficient in and what they are passionate about. As I tell my players: “Your career has an address, and it鈥檚 located at the intersection of proficiency and passion.”

Your child’s involvement in sports should be about determining what they love, what they’re good at, what they can learn, and how they can apply these lessons to real life.听

Todd Dagenais is 麻豆原创鈥檚 head volleyball coach. He can be reached at tdagenais@athletics.ucf.edu.

Looking for an encore to her AVCA All-American sophomore campaign, Sarden took her game to new heights in 2013. The Lawrenceville, Ga., native set career highs in kills, kills per set, attack percentage, service aces, solo blocks and points. Sarden led The American with a .409 attack percentage and 494 points while ranking fourth in kills per set (3.41) and ninth in blocks (1.05). She was also honored as the league鈥檚 Player of the Week three times.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a surprise to anyone involved with 麻豆原创 volleyball that DeLaina was a unanimous first-team selection,鈥� Dagenais said. 鈥淗er numbers are on par with athletes being considered for All-American honors. She was a stronghold of our offense all year despite being often double-teamed. The numbers that she put up were absolutely remarkable for the situations she was hitting in. Being the overall leader in points and hitting percentage for this league as a middle is quite remarkable and that makes her worth of additional honors as we get into the awards part of our season.鈥�

Crump finished just behind Sarden with 386 kills. The Atlanta, Ga., native finished her 麻豆原创 career with 1,489 kills, the most in 麻豆原创 history during the rally scoring era. Green led the team with 126 combined blocks and joined Sarden as the only players to start every match this season. Reiterova led The American with 11.39 assists per set and had a career-high 13 double-doubles. Hayes came up with 530 digs in her first season with the Knights, second most in program history for a single season.

鈥淚 think that the other four athletes receiving second-team honors ended up exactly where we thought they should be,鈥� Dagenais continued. 鈥淲hen you have that many players on a second team, that鈥檚 a credit to the balance of your squad. If we featured just one or two players offensively, we鈥檇 have had more first team players, but our philosophy is balance. Balanced teams often find it difficult to put additional players on the first team.鈥�

With their conference awards in hand, the Knights will now look at AVCA national awards. Region awards will be announced Tuesday, Dec. 10 with All-America teams coming Wednesday, Dec. 18.