What makes a good leader?

What makes a good leader? Just ask a Year 10 student from one of WA’s elite boys’ schools, Scotch College. Sports Challenge is currently running a leading edge experiential learning program for all boys by pushing their boundaries in every direction.

If you were walking past Scotch College on a Friday afternoon you could not help notice the energy of the year 10 boys out on the lawn under the huge pine trees calling out to each other as they try to solve a different leadership activity each week. The activities are designed to encourage and extend students to work together as a team while developing their own leadership skills.
The groups are only small and the activities intense under the guidance of elite sportsmen and women who have been highly trained in the areas of: conflict resolution, goal setting, communication skills, time management and leadership styles and most importantly, teamwork.
Elite mentors CJ Jackson (basketball), Jesse Phillips (kayaking), Briony Keenan (gymnastics) and Richard Heptinstall (AFL boundary umpire) backed up by Programs Coordinator Leah Pitts and Marketing and Communications Coordinator Tania Giorgetta, ensure ‘best practice’ is delivered each week.
The outdoor experiential activities complemented by cognitive work booklets for each boy in the classroom. The indoor work ensures sound leadership practices are documented and evaluated rigorously. All boys are exposed to some ‘world first’ assessment tools including Emotional Intelligence (EI) audits and individual Leadership audits.
As one year ten boy said “It’s great to do something different and through the program I am learning a lot about myself and the others in my group.”
Now into its fourth year at Scotch Year 10 coordinator Bill Cordner sees the Sports Challenge program “as essential in our boys’ development as they strive to be the best they possibly can be in life’s uncertain journey.”