WAYNESBORO – Waynesboro Area School District Athletic Director Eric McIlquham told Waynesboro Rotarians last week that athletics gives students an opportunity to fail and learn from that failure.
He said he tells the district’s student-athletes that “every day is an opportunity to get better or worse.” He said he considers athletics one of the greatest programs for students because it’s one of the few places where they are “forced to fail” and learn to be resilient.
This is reflected in the academic achievement of the district’s student-athletes, McIlquham said. All 23 of the district’s athletic teams maintained at least a 3.0 team grade average, and 16 of the 23 were 3.5 or better. About 80 percent of student athletes make honor rolls compared with about 40 percent for non-athletes.
He also noted that more district athletes also are going on to play college sports than in years past.
Having had extensive experience as a swim coach at the university level, McIlquham said he’s encountered an experience common to many coaches — that you can’t use the same coaching method for every student and that
men’s and women’s teams often require differing coaching styles.
