Empowering High School Students to Self-Advocate
The final buzzer rings with a hard-fought home team victory. The players celebrate the close win and, from the bleachers, it looks like all is right in the world of the school’s athletic program. However, there are a few spectators who are not happy. One voice rings out in exclamation, “Coach, why didn’t you play the best players? How come you didn’t put my student in?”
Administrators quickly address the fan with a de-escalating conversation to enjoy the victory, but the parent has a laundry list of concerns. What really comes into focus is that this parent feels concerns about the program are not heard or addressed; students are unable to talk to the coach as they are afraid of retaliation. Scenarios, like the one above, play out across schools nationwide, but if school leaders do not take time to address it, they may miss one of the most important opportunities to educate students and empower them to become self-advocates.
Share Program Goals of Empowering Student Voice
Student voice is powerful, and athletic and activity participants can be both knowingly and unknowingly divisive if proper direction is not provided. Parents want the best for their students and when they hear their students’ frustrations and do not know how to guide them, parents can quickly transform from supportive understanding partners to helicopter inquisitors that can damage coach, team and individual student morale.
One of the keys to promoting better responsibility and understanding within students is by setting and explaining common school, program and coaching philosophies. An important part of all successful programs is to create opportunities for students to learn through active conversation. Coaches can encourage constructive conversation by valuing student feedback, making time to listen, assuming positive intent, and viewing communication challenges as learning experiences. Students may not fully understand how their perspectives, actions and words can divide others, but when coaches create space and time for participants to share their thoughts, they are more likely to students clarify and understand the power of words.
By nature, schools want to prepare students for their post-high school careers, but one area not explicitly taught in classes is building student confidence to have honest conversations. To have such focused and sometimes uncomfortable conversations, coaches need to model how such conversations can occur.
Students want to make their parents happy, their peers happy, and even their coaches happy. It’s only logical then that when students don’t achieve this goal, they may voice frustration. If students have a bad day at home, they are likely to talk about it at school and if students struggle in practice or don’t feel appreciated, they are likely to voice concerns to their parents.
These behaviors are concerning if school leaders do not share that such conversations can be normal in the growth of students and can become more damaging if schools do not have plans to educate students and parents regarding how such conversations can be growth opportunities. When students understand how their voice can either promote inclusivity and understanding or create division, they are more likely to work toward positive solutions.
Create Opportunities and Space for Students to Talk to Coaches or Trusted Staff
In an era of social media which values posts rather than actual discussion, students can lash out through text or social media and can cause psychological pain to others with little concern for consequences. Students have little challenge amplifying their voice; however, they may not understand what effect it can have on others. Coaches can dedicate time for each student to explore their concerns with the understanding that initial words used by students may not capture their entire meaning.
Due to emotions, students may use charged language and coaches can help them better frame their concerns, explore the possible consequences that messages can have without proper guidance, and show students pathways to become better advocates.
Designating an assistant coach, athletic director or trusted staff member as someone with whom students can share feelings and try out conversations gives them a safe practice space so they can better deliver their concerns to others.
For example, a student may initially say, “I hate this school. I hate this team. We’re always losing.” With a safe space to explore intent and meaning, the student may arrive at the understanding they don’t hate the team but are frustrated that they don’t see how they can improve or help the team do better. Furthermore, with a trusted adult, students may be prompted to explore their own role on the team, explore goal-setting, and become more accountable to themselves and the team.
Practice Scenarios with Students and Parents to Achieve Clarity and Success
Setting aside practice time to have individual conversations may seem challenging. Games are sometimes won based on instruction of technique and tactics, but creating set times, such as office hours, can help students and parents better understand and role play how challenging situations can end positively.
For example, at a parent night, coaches can set the stage of a mid-year loss with the athlete at home complaining about practice, playing time, and coaches who they feel don’t like them. Parents can be encouraged to have deeper conversations to find out the root causes of frustration and encourage students to meet with coaches. As an added support, coaches could encourage parents to share such conversations with coaches to create a more unified system of support as it shows parents and coaches working together.
At a student practice, coaches could talk about the importance of supporting each other; setting ground rules that everyone in the program values listening and communicating with positive intent. Coaches can then help students understand their role, so they can see how coaching decisions are made with a lens that allows everyone to improve. When students understand and see transparency in their leaders, they are likely to be better competitors more prepared for a rigorous season.
Gather Data Through Surveys
Data plays an important role in achieving success and empowering student self-advocacy. Whether it’s a student learning that more rebounds can improve team outcomes and lead a student to focus more on technique in a basketball practice or a parent completing a survey to share their experience as a parent within a program, data needs to be regularly collected and reviewed as it can be a catalyst for improvement.
Some schools may choose to have end-of-season surveys for both participants and parents, so they can identify areas of improvement in the offseason. Coaches can also create surveys for their students and give them periodically throughout the season. Questions can be asked such as: 1) Do you think you are improving this season? 2) Do you feel that you are meaningfully helping others? 3) Do you feel that the coaches are helping you reach your goals? These forced-answer yes/no questions can allow coaches to focus their efforts and guide their practices to achieve more success.
Open-ended survey questions are also valuable, such as:
What is one time this week that you thought things were great with the team?
What is the one instance in the game you felt that the team seemed most unprepared?
What would you most like for the coach to address collectively?
Would you like to have the coach follow up individually with you?
With open-ended questions, coaches can explore ways to address individual concerns, especially if they have a dedicated time for additional one-on-one conversation.
Athletic and activity programs are great ways to support student learning and test student limits. When students are given time to practice how to appropriately communicate their messages, they are more likely to become positive contributors and better understand how their voice can affect both team and individual performance. Schools and programs that develop ways to promote student self-advocacy empower students to realize their voice can drive improvement and help everyone achieve their goals.
Dr. Steve Amaro, CMAA, is principal of Freedom High School in Oakley, California, after previously serving as assistant principal, English content coach, athletic director and tennis coach for the school. He is a member of the High School Today Publications Committee.
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