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johnlg00 writes:

in response to fratricide08:

I got to see the Lady Vols and Pat's work from a perspective few others have -- as a student/peer and later as some of my own students. They were different from every other university program whether a club or sport or any other sanctioned group.

After having a few in class, I looked forward to whenever I got a new student handing me their letter on the first day of class because I knew at once that I could expect certain things from them from day one (with many other students, you don't know what to expect from them until a few weeks had passed and you got a chance to know them better). IOW, it didn't take long for me to know that no matter how shy or outgoing that I had a student who would go all out, check on their grades regularly, let me know in advance if they were going to miss class due to a university function (instead of after the fact) and ask about what they needed to do in order to excel etc.

Her work and the emphasis she placed on excellence in all things was reflected in her students/players.

I'm glad to hear that she remembers those relationships because as someone who has taught others the joy truly is in seeing others succeed and my students, all of them regardless of whether they were student athletes, club affiliated, older student returning to college or just your regular enrollee, were the ones who taught me that.

Well said. That very much echoes my own experience as a GTA and tutor of athletes. The total management of the whole person by everyone associated with the LVs is the very model of a college sports program. It may be easier to do that with a women's program than with the men because women's pro prospects are more limited, so more of the women come to school with the PRIMARY goal of getting a degree. Still, there are lessons to be learned about recruiting for character as much as for athletic ability and for missing no opportunity to improve the education of the athletes in the program's charge.

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