[Part 2 of 3: This three-part article addresses the current environment in collegiate athletics related to the student-athlete experience. Athletics directors and other campus administrators need to engage student-athletes in meaningful and systematic ways to promote communication, trust and accountability. The student-athlete experience must enhance overall educational goals at every institution. Find out how we can help with our student-athlete experience assessment services.]
Part 2: Establishing A Culture of Trust
Every athletics department declares the importance of the student-athlete experience and its concern for participant welfare. Yet few actually do anything to learn about, assess or improve their student-athlete experience. Important areas that impact student-athletes, yet are rarely asked about, include:
- class availability and scheduling
- missed class time
- access to and quality of campus food service
- knowing where to go on campus for help or services
- perceptions of bias or prejudice from faculty and other students
- stress and over-committing
- integration into campus student life
- recruiting promises and realities
The point is that the student-athlete experience is about more than just competition, coaches, facilities and satisfaction. Understanding the needs of student-athletes and what aspects of their experience they consider most important will help direct resources to support them.
Developing trust between student-athletes and athletics administration requires effort. Developing meaningful and systematic ways to engage student-athletes promotes communication, builds trust and provides invaluable feedback about your department.
1. Don’t Ask = “Don’t Care”
Far too many Senior Exit Interview Surveys start with “… institutions are required by NCAA regulations to interview student-athletes …” It sounds like the department doesn’t care about student-athletes, but survey them because the NCAA makes them do it. Not exactly reaching out to embrace your student-athletes.
Confidential, Anonymous and Safe
For some 18-22 year old student-athletes, intimidation and fear of retaliation (real or perceived) exist and cause stress or feelings of alienation or isolation. These fears keep student-athletes silent because they don’t know where to go with their concerns. Creating a safe way for student-athletes to provide feedback demonstrates the athletics department cares about them and values their opinions.
2. Risk [mis]Management
For large and small program alike, negative publicity should be viewed within the risk management realm. Conventional customer service wisdom tells us that negative experiences are shared and repeated far more than positive ones, and they influence and shape potential customer’s perceptions. With student-athletes as customers, and social and other media as vehicles, the potential to spread negative perceptions of your program is high. Student-athletes need an alternative way to voice concerns.
Reaching out to student-athletes also demonstrates due diligence on the part of the athletics department. Should an incident occur, the department can show its efforts to engage student-athletes and provide them with opportunities to raise issues or concerns with administrators.
Engaging student-athletes is a best practice. It not only provides a way for student-athletes to voice concerns, it also arms athletics administrators with positive data that can justify resources, reaffirm staff and their good work, and provides evidence-based examples of the impact and role athletics plays in the lives of student-athletes. It fuels discussions about the positive aspects of athletics in a way that simple anecdotal stories cannot.
3. Pay Now or Pay Later
Though it may not seem like a priority compared to fundraising or ticket sales, understanding your student-athletes’ experiences can save you negative publicity, embarrassment and ultimately more money. Identifying potential issues and dealing with them before a media bombshell should be a part of an athletics department’s risk management strategy as well as its student-athlete development/welfare strategy.
Coming in Part Three:
- Building The Foundation
- Engaging The Right People
- Using The Right Tools