On Monday, Claire Collins ‘15 zoomed in to the Deerfield Athletics Leadership Course from sunny California, where she is training with the US Women’s Olympic Rowing team and competing to claim a spot on the next Olympic team. She spent her time in between her training sessions to share some of her experiences and wisdoms with the leadership class.
Claire shared many of her wisdom’s with the group and a few of her takeaway messages include:
– Leadership starts with being yourself. Don’t waste energy trying to be anyone other than who you truly are.
– Control the controllables. Your effort, your attitude, and forget the rest. Spend your mental energy focusing on things you can control.
– Work with your teammates to set team goals and check in on your progress throughout the season. When you are struggling individually or as a team, refer to your goals to guide you along the way.
Furthermore, Claire credited her participation in multiple sports as an important part of her overall education at Deerfield. While at Deerfield, Claire was a three-sport varsity athlete in volleyball, swimming and rowing and served as a captain for all three teams. She earned three New England All-Star honors in volleyball and earned All-America consideration in swimming. Claire and her Deerfield rowing teammates captured gold at the 2014 and 2015 Youth National Championship in the 4+.
Following Deerfield, Claire continued her rowing career at Princeton University. At Princeton, Claire was a four-time First-Team All-Ivy League honoree, a four-time Ivy League champion, a two-time Academic All-Ivy, second-team All-America (2017), two-time first-team All-American, first-team All-Region in 2017, and rowed in the NCAA Championship for three years. The recipient of the 2019 C. Otto von Kienbusch Award winner and was nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year during her senior year.
This winter marks the inaugural launch of the Athletics Department’s leadership course with 15 student-athletes participating this term.
The course goals are:
- Explore leadership styles and identify personal strengths and weaknesses through self-reflection
- Build a foundation of mental skills and strategies to support difficult decisions and conversations with teammates and coaches
- Create standards of accountability that support and encourage a positive team culture
- Gain confidence in yourself and your ability to lead others with humility and grace
- Strengthen cultural competency skills and learn to utilize them to drive change within yourself, teammates and the community
Many thanks and best of luck Claire!