Not only can organizations, like intercollegiate athletics, implement principles related to a Culture of Hospitality, but they are in an ideal place to utilize what author Dan Coyle defines as “threshold moments” to create an amazing First Day Experience when new student athletes arrive on campus. Previously establishing a framework for this concept, I encourage you to take a moment to visit the page entitled Keep ‘Em Comin’ Back for more background. However, the discussion I hope to engage you in with today’s reading is providing an example of how an intercollegiate athletic program like Union University might create a Defining Moment or a Moment of Impact.
By blending the concepts presented by Coyle, Chip and Dan Heath, and Daniel Pink and many others, let’s outline that day in early August when the student-athletes participating in fall sports arrive on campus:
Scene 1: All the student athletes are ushered into the chapel. After being seated, they hear the following words: “Whatever you were before, you are a Bulldog now. We need you to help us make our program better!”
Scene 2: Student athletes watch a film about the Bulldog athletic program including video highlights from the Top Dawg Awards and the rich athletic history of Union sports from the early 1900s until today. After viewing the athletic highlights, the new Bulldogs are enlightened on how former Union athletes are impacting the world through their personal and professional lives.
Scene 3: The Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) officers ask the new Bulldogs to invest in making Union even better. By accepting the jersey, which combines the Union name with their personal name, these new student athletes are making a commitment to excellence. Each person walks across the stage visually embracing their new role as a Bulldog as they accept their new identity. Donning the new jersey, the newest Bulldogs return to their seat and join their teammates who have now slipped on their own uniform.
Scene 4: As one unified group of Bulldogs, these athletes are led in singing the Union alma mater and a few basic cheers. Lining up and down the aisles, former Bulldogs cheer these new Bulldogs on as they exit the chapel and climb aboard a bus.
Scene 5: Outfitted in a sea of red, these new Bulldogs are provided a tour of Jackson, explaining the city’s history and acknowledging the people who not only support Union but the athletic teams as well. Returning to campus, the new Bulldogs are asked to walk the playing areas of all the Union teams, imagining the history, the sweat, and the tears that have been invested in this place. An emphasis is placed on the legacy of over 100 years of athletic competition and to the athletes who have laid a foundation that they are asked to honor and commit to making better.
Scene 6: Ending the day with a tailgate party, all Union Bulldogs come together as one to hear laughter and stories from alumni’s experiences while they wore the uniform. Over games and activities such as corn hole, all Bulldogs are made to feel welcome and to embrace the new journey ahead.
This onboarding experience is especially important to members of Gen Z and implements ideas, not only from the author’s mentioned above, but also contains the eight ways that Jenkins offers to elevate a First Day Experience for this generation: (1) supply swag; (2) connect communities; (3) leverage leaders; (4) appoint ambassadors; (5) convey culture; (6) establish expectations; (7) tune-up technology; and (8) celebrate conclusions. Yes, this First Day Experience would be an investment of time, energy, and resources, but what a threshold moment this could be for creating a culture of excellence as a Union Bulldog!
References:
Coyle, D. (2019). The culture code: The secrets of highly successful groups. Random House.
Jenkins, R. (2019, June 4). Hiring Generation Z? Ensure Their First Day Includes This. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/ryan-jenkins/hiring-generation-z-ensure-their-first-day-includes-this.html
Pink, D.H. (2018). When: The scientific secrets of perfect timing. Riverhead Books.
Flourishing @ Life 
Dr. Powell Im a college athlete here at Union and this just gave me chills. It’s a true bummer that we don’t do this! I fell that this would be such a powerful experience for incoming transfers and freshmen. Yet our SAAC does a wonderful job organizing a little sports luau getting all of us athletes together to get to know each other and make us a tighter-knit community. I would truly like to see the athletic department take this idea and run with it, I feel that the athletes would have a deeper connection with the university if they were taught some of their sorts history here at Union.
LikeLike
In my opinion, this would be a perfect way to set the standard for the Union athletics. I am part of the athletics here and I can personally say that there is something missing when you arrive; we do not experience welcome week like most students do, and I think that this would be the perfect way to make new athletes feel welcome and a part of the new culture. I hope to see in the future a sort of welcoming ritual like this that would be consistent every year, and allow athletes to have the special welcoming they deserve.
LikeLike
As a student athlete myself this sounds like a great first day experience. Even if every school were not able to do all these things, something as simple as coming together as an incoming class and giving out a bit of swag would be a great first day. Those are things that every school should be able to do, as getting people together in gym or worship center and producing a video that other students would do in order to provide a great first day for the incoming athletes. In these covid times we were not able to give out any team gear for almost an entire month and this was difficult for the new guys to feel apart of the team without having anything with their school to wear.
LikeLike
Dr. Powell
I think that these steps every athlete goes through whenever they arrive on campus show how great people are and how great of a community Union has. I am an athlete as well, and when I first came to Union, people that I met made me feel like I belong here. As an international student, I did not know what to expect, but when the first day was over, I knew I am going to like Union. The great thing about Union is that the athletic programs are not only focused on sport. Coaches and other staff help you get closer to God and improve your relationship with Him. My final thoughts are that Union is a great place where people can develop and find a deeper meaning of life, connecting with others and trying to understand what God’s plans are for them.
LikeLike
As an athlete at Union, I would 100% be down for this idea! I believe it would be so beneficial for student athletes to foster a sense of pride in their new team, new school, and new community. Putting a little weight on athlete’s shoulders in terms of what they are upholding both in terms of their sport and in the classroom could be extremely beneficial. When you have a good understanding of who you are representing and the community around you, you will always want to perform your best!
I hate so much that in my only year as the SAAC president I am not able to put together many events where we could do things like this because of COVID. But this concept has gotten my creative juices flowing and hopefully at some point I will be able to put together some event for athletes so we can foster some sort of camaraderie!
LikeLike
When I read this I immediately got excited about the opportunity to hopefully start practicing again soon. This year has already been so crazy with a rollercoaster of emotions, and this got me even more ready than I already am to see the softball girls on a regular bases again.
I think events like the ones you mentioned above are what the college experience is all about. I know for me those were some of the best times I had as a student athlete and I remember those way more often than I remember actually playing in games.
Thank you for the excitement!!!
LikeLike
I absolutely love this! Making an investment into the athletic programs at Union is huge, and it’s important that it comes voluntarily. When employees of Union, especially those that are directly involved with oncoming into campus. We need people who aren’t on campus to show investment to the new players! I love the different ideas and ways to involve the new players! Have former athletes invest and come speak! Have members of the public come and meet these players, they are now members of the public and deserved to be welcomed in. It all comes down to how welcomed they feel, how interested they are to be here. Their passion for their new home and how invested they are to their sports comes down to the investment from the public and those outside the bubble of the university.
LikeLike
Dr. Powell
I think that this is not only one of the best ways to welcome an student athlete but it is almost one one of the only ways that an student athlete could feel so welcomed. My first time coming here I was so nervous because I felt like I did not fit in with regular students. As time went by my awesome classmates made me feel just like a regular student and my experience so far has great. This is a great idea to set standards for a student athlete.
LikeLike
As a student athlete, I think this is an excellent idea and it would be a memorable “first day experience” for all athletes at Union. Implementing some or all of your ideas would truly embrace Union’s “excellence driven” motto and it would distinguish the school and our athletic programs from others.
Also, knowing the history of all the athletes and the programs would give each athlete a sense of belonging and it would also fuel our bulldog passion to give it our all (and beyond) every time we represent Union.
After reading each scene as you described in your blog, it reminded me of the extraordinary feeling I get when I walk through the Hall of Fame and see all of the athletes displayed and honored for their athletic achievements. I especially feel connected since I have an Uncle represented on the wall, (Mickey Wolfe) who played golf. I was fortunate to attend his banquet and hear first hand all of his accomplishments. Being a part of that ceremony made me want to be a future Bulldog as well.
I think having some ceremony like that or as you described in your blog would be one of those “threshold moments” that would be forever etched in our minds as an athlete for Union.
Thanks for posting these ideas on your blog, this has got me all in and ready to get it started!
—Blake Wolfe
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: The First 48 – Flourishing @ Life
Reading this as a student-athlete here at Union, I would have loved to have this first-day experience. Even though I had visited this campus countless times before applying or even thinking about coming to Union, being able to have these resources and this kind of welcoming as an athlete would have been awesome. I was not able to attend any event for my freshmen Welcome Week, so having this specifically for athletes would have been a great way to meet new people in my class and who share the same college lifestyle as I do. I love the idea of ending the day with a Union tailgate to give an opportunity to meet and socialize with new people/athletes.
Thank you for coming up with this idea. I hope that one day it becomes a thought and then becomes an event for upcoming freshman athletes!
– Gentry Wolfe
LikeLike
Pingback: First Day Experience: Faculty Workshop – Flourishing @ Life
Ms. Julie,
I enjoyed this post a lot! At first, I was reading it, and I was like, “Wait… this didn’t happen to me when I first got here.” But then I realized what a great idea you were proposing to unite all Union student-athletes. I think we could definitely use something like this because as an athlete here, personally, I feel like I don’t interact with athletes from other teams very much unless it’s in class. In my opinion, the whole atmosphere would be better if we were all truly united behind the great history and legacy of Union. Thank you for suggesting this!
-Grace White
LikeLike
These are concepts that could potentially set the standard on how a college athletic program should welcome and celebrate their recruits.
I have to say that the concepts presented by Coyle, Chip, Heath, Pink, and Jenkins caught my attention as I am a freshman student-athlete who is going through this new experience, it came to my mind that Campbellsville University itself has applied some of those principles during the first days of the Fall 2024 intake, we can see a lot of resemblance between some those scenes and CU’s first-days experience, something that CU has focused on is the Tiger culture, as it was important to embrace the recruits in a way that would allow them to indulge in their new community.
However, I believe that CU still has a long way to go when it comes to flourishing that culture in a way that would allow the CU athletic programs to be more predominant and more attractive to talents, as many of the scenes highlighted by Prof. Powell are missing from the CU freshman athlete experience even though they seem to be potential standards that could change any college athletic program forever.
LikeLike