Leading Through Law
Whether it was spending hot summers watching my brother on the pitcher’s mound or winning the flag football championship, sports have always found a way to play an important role in my life. Through participation and growing up in an environment full of athletics, I have always found issues within sports to be interesting and pertinent to society. Because of my interest in sports as well as experience with athletes, I will be going into sports and entertainment law. My professional goal is to become an emerging attorney within the NCAA through creating stricter rules and more accountability when dealing with sexual harassment and assault in amateur and professional sports. Often times, athletes are more likely to get away with sexual harassment and part of the reason for this is the “turn the other cheek” mentality of athletic departments. Additionally, athletes that are accused of sexual assault and harassment are a part of high profile cases because of their celebrity like platform and often lack the education to protect themselves in potential situations that could involve assault. In order to keep athletes and other students as safe as possible the NCAA has a responsibility to mold athletes into active bystanders and provide consent and sexual harassment education to coaches and students athletes.
In order to prepare myself for the challenges that I will face in the sports law profession I must refine various leadership skills in order to insure progress. The NCAA, while a well-known organization, has a negative reputation within many athletic departments and outside sources because of its strict rules and sometimes, its negligence in various issues. This could be a potential obstacle I will face when trying to achieve my professional goal. Additionally, there is significant backlash from institutions about NCAA involvement in athletic departments which is rooted in the reputation of the NCAA being part of the “establishment”. Even with recent progress, the sports industry also continues to be a male dominated field, which could potentially hinder my progress in achieving my goals. Despite these challenges, refining my leadership skills through my key insights will help me to become an emerging attorney for the NCAA through creating stricter rules and more accountability when dealing with sexual harassment in amateur sports.
My four Key insights are conclusions that I have drawn from my experiences at the University of South Carolina that I will continue to build upon these developments as I gain more specialized training and experience. Creating win-win situations will aide in the negotiation process between student athletes, athletic departments, and the NCAA. “Leading a horse to water” will encourage advocacy and creating opportunities to help those who are disenfranchised or lack representation in the NCAA. Emotional intelligence will allow me to evaluate others as well as myself in high pressure and stress situations, therefore making me a better communicator as well as exercising empathy. Lastly, being able to self-critique will serve as an indicator to my professional goal advancement and will encourage me to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of my methods of attaining that professional goal.
Creating win-win situations is not only an insight I developed throughout my extracurricular activities and my major’s curriculum, but also a skill that can be translated in the law profession in order to achieve my professional goals. Working for the NCAA requires facilitating discussion and conflict management between various parties with different goals and incentives. Having a win-win mindset when approaching sexual assault in college athletics is essential to developing a successful program. Athletes are concerned with remaining eligible to play their sport so that they can achieve success. Likewise, coaches and athletic departments are concerned with providing a safe environment for their athletes in order to keep them eligible to play and do well for the athletic program. The NCAA has interests in protecting student athletes by keeping athletic departments accountable for their actions. It is also important to consider the interests of the student body as well as the victims of sexual assault; whether they are student-athletes or not. In my POLI 421 class on International Law, we discussed prisoner's dilemma and how it is natural for different actors to have opposing interests. This kind of behavior is evident within amateur sports because all parties involved are naturally inclined to go after their own interests. Looking at any issues between these parties requires evaluations between their relationships as well as expected outcomes and consequences of potential solutions for all parties. Going into a negotiation with a win-win mindset will guarantee an atmosphere that fosters compromise rather than confrontation or inferiority. Conflict resolution that results in compromise proves to be more sustainable and stable which is crucial in preventing future disgruntles and foster future relations.
“Leading a Horse to Water” is also an essential skill that will aide me in achieving my professional goal to become an emerging attorney for the NCAA through creating stricter rules and more accountability when dealing with sexual harassment in amateur sports. A large concept of “Leading a Horse to Water” is guiding others to find solutions to issues. On a macro scale, it is important for the NCAA to provide athletic departments with the resources to educate their student athletes. In order for this to be effective I must be able to communicate why athletic departments should care about this issue as well as encouraging them to create substantial plans to combat sexual assault. Knowledge is empowerment but my role could only go so far in carrying out my goals. Ultimately it would be up to the athletic departments to implement sexual assault awareness programs in order for them to be effective.
Emotional intelligence will be used in order to maintain a sense of empathy and understanding between parties and myself. Emotional Intelligence also includes channeling my own emotions to be the most effective. Preventing sexual assault and promoting being an active bystander is something I am passionate about which provokes a lot of emotion. While I was a mentor for the atheltic department I would often discuss the behavior and emotional state of my students with their advisors. Many times, my students would be dealing with a lot of pressure and under stress from their sport and from their school work. I will use the skills I learned as a mentor when talking to my students to negotiate with empathy. Conveying my passion to others is vital to effectively accomplishing my professional goals. Likewise, knowing what provokes emotion in other parties will allow me to understand what is important to them, react to it and channel it to creating success. Emotional Intelligence translates into building relationships, which is a necessity in being a successful lawyer and in achieving my future goals.
Self-Critiquing is one of the most important key insights from my four years at Carolina because of its power to gauge my success and progress in achieving my goals. As an orientation leader, we were required to debrief after each session to analyze what went poorly and what aspects of the session were successful. Additionally, parents and students submitted evaluations at the end of each sessions which we examined for potential improvements. Fortunately, developing this skill in and out of the classroom will give me the proper tools to determine strengths and weaknesses within myself. While there will be feedback from the NCAA, athletic departments and students, being able to look at my own actions and identify where improvement is needed, will give me an edge over others and add to my success. Not only will this keep me humble but it will encourage proactive self-improvement as well as make me more receptive to criticism from others.
Incorporating and further developing key insights through experience and further education in law will ultimately steer me towards accomplishing my professional goal to become an emerging attorney within the NCAA through creating stricter rules and more accountability when dealing with sexual harassment and assault in amateur and professional sports. Ignoring difficult topics in amateur sports is not a solution. It is my responsibility as a future lawyer to use my specialized skills to protect student-athletes, students, and athletic departments, holding them accountable for unacceptable behavior and providing preventative and long term education for all parties affected.