Westran football seniors learn life leadership skills at conference

By Janet Morales

Eleven seniors on the Westran football team, along with Coach Curtis Jasper, went to a leadership conference June 3-4 held at William Jewell University.

The conference, a camp, of sorts, used physical activities to help the players develop skills that will make them stronger leaders on the playing field and better role models inlife.

According to Coach Jasper, the first day at the leadership conference consisted of a low challenge course.

“It was called low challenge because it was close to the ground not because the level of challenges were low,” he said.

Jasper said the boys used trial and error to work through some of the first challenges but eventually they learned to come up with a game plan before attempting a challenge.

“They completed every single obstacle,” said Jasper

One of the first challenges included taking turns lifting members of the team up on their fingertips and over their heads. Jasper, as coach, is a member of the team. Jasper is smart and a great coach who is respected by his players but he is not small. But the team found a way to accomplish the task.

A recent Geico commercial shows the boss falling back for the gecko to catch – a trust exercise. The Westran seniors, and Coach Jasper, performed a similar exercise except they fell from a four-foot platform and the rest of the team caught them. Another challenge getting the team over a 12 ft. wall with no steps.

“We started with two of the lighter guys going first and the others on the ground pushed them up where the guys on the wall could pull them up,” said Jasper. “Tyler Hunt was the last to go and didn’t have anybody on the ground to help him but he has a pretty good vertical. They even got me up. It really made them feel good they were helping me as much as I helped them.”

Day Two was the Odyssey, a high ropes course 25 to 35 ft. off the ground.

“This taught them how to help each other and reorganize,” said Jasper.

This was the first year the Westran group attended the conference but Jasper hopes it is the beginning of a tradition. He said the experience taught the seniors how to process information, strategize and come up with a plan that was eventually successful. It also taught them the importance of working as a team. He said it will not only help the boys become leaders on the football field but will help them serve as role models outside of school.

“This is a good group of guys and can channel their energy into something positive,” said Jasper. We were one of the first high schools to take part. It was definitely worth it.”