Wittenberg Women's Soccer Standout Attends NCAA Leadership Conference

Meghan O'Rourke

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Wittenberg University women's soccer standout Meghan O'Rourke, class of 2008, didn't have much time for Mickey, Minnie and the other famed cartoon characters on her recent trip to Walt Disney World. She was too busy.

O'Rourke attended the eighth annual NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference May 29-June 2 at the Coronado Springs Resort and Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. It is the fourth straight year that a Wittenberg student has attended the conference, although O'Rourke was the first female and first underclassman to represent the university at an event that draws more than 350 student-athletes each year from across the country.

"I was skeptical going into the conference, fearing that we were all going to just sit around in a conference room and define what leadership is," said O'Rourke of Columbus, Ohio, a 2004 graduate of Worthington Kilbourne High School. "I was proven wrong from the minute I arrived in Florida. The best part of the trip was all of the people I met and formed friendships with; I have never become closer to more people in a shorter amount of time than at this conference.

"Once I realized how alike I was with the rest of the participants, it made the learning experience that much better. I learned so many things at the conference and was required to think of things I would never have thought of otherwise."

The Tigers' starting goalkeeper in her first collegiate season, O'Rourke was a leader from the outset in the women's soccer team's breakout 2004 season. After three straight non-winning seasons, the Tigers posted an overall record of 11-4-5 and finished second in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament after placing third in the regular season with a mark of 5-3.

True to its name, the conference took student-athletes like O'Rourke from NCAA Division I, II and III schools who have been identified as current or future leaders on their campuses and in their communities and offered them fresh ways of thinking about leadership. The conference is annually billed as one of the largest non-competitive gatherings of NCAA student-athletes, and it has been designed to enhance leadership and communication skills.

During the conference, participants discussed such topics as diversity, student-athlete welfare, social behavior, Title IX, NCAA rules and regulations, and peer pressure. There is a great deal of small group work in which student-athletes from different backgrounds share ideas and exchange problems they encounter in their athletic departments, as well as solutions that can be shared with others for implementation.

O'Rourke said that the similarities between student-athletes at a small liberal arts institution like Wittenberg and student-athletes at huge NCAA Division I state schools made a big impression. She found that college students face many of the same obstacles when it comes to making the right decisions, keeping up with academic requirements and committing the necessary time and energy to their varsity athletic program.

"I learned the different ways of leadership and how to know what style of leadership you have to use in certain situations," said O'Rourke, who ranked second in the NCAC in saves percentage as a freshman while spearheading a defensive unit that allowed just 14 goals in 20 games in 2004. "I learned that while I might be the most vocal or most likely to just step up and take charge of a situation, it also takes a leader to make others leaders as well. I learned the differences between team building and hazing, and I have a list of fun activities to enhance team building.

"A lot of what I learned are things I cannot necessarily explain. It's a feeling of completeness, confidence and excitement in being a leader."

O'Rourke, already a campus leader in the Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), is looking forward to implementing some of the things she learned at the conference on Wittenberg's campus.

"I am definitely going to bring as much back to our campus as I can," she said. "The best way for me to bring back what I learned is to just listen to others and their problems or ideas once I get back to campus and use my new skills and confidence as a leader to help them achieve their goals or solve their problems.

"If I could, I would go back [to the conference] next year and every year after that, but I can't. But I am glad that another student-athlete will be able to have the same opportunity I had this year. I made lifelong friends and learned so much about myself and others. The things I learned at the conference will help me on and off the playing field."

Mark Trempe, a 2003 graduate and a former all-conference track and field performer, represented Wittenberg at the 2002 conference, Kyle Dunaway, a 2004 graduate and an all-conference swimmer, represented Wittenberg in 2003, and Raymar Hampshire, a 2005 graduate and an all-conference football player, made the trip in 2004. Wittenberg Director of Athletics and Recreation Garnett Purnell made a presentation at the conference in 2003.

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