Summer vacation ended a little bit early for a group of St. Lawrence University's top student-athletes as 28 team captains participated in a Captains' Leadership Initiative to kick off the start of the school year.

A group of 28 captains returned to campus Aug. 16-17 for the program, the first of its kind for Saint athletes.

"It has a three-fold purpose," said Saint athletic director Bob Durocher. "I have never been involved with a successful team which did not have great captains, and this program is intended to provide our captains in all sports with the tools to be outstanding leaders. We didn't have everyone there…football was already in pre-season practice, the hockey team was in Italy and some others couldn't come back early for various reasons, but for a voluntary program, it was a great turnout and one we will build on with future programs."

The initiative involved two very busy days…from one in the afternoon till nearly midnight on Sunday and a full day on Monday. President Bill Fox kicked off the program with various aspects of leadership covered during the program. It included guest speaker Spencer Wood, a nationally renowned sports psychologist as well as a variety of multi-media clips geared toward team building and leadership.

"Franco Bari did a great job in lining up Spencer Wood and contributing to the overall success of the program," said Durocher. Bari is the Coordinator of the SLU Student-Athlete Development Program in addition to his duties as head women's soccer coach and assistant athletic director.

"Our first goal was to give the captains and team leaders some additional skills," said Durocher ."We ask our captains to take on a lot of responsibility, but they haven't necessarily been given the tools they need to do their job."

"Secondly we want to help them be able to take the information we pass on and use their skills to assist their coach getting the messages to the team. We want to develop chemistry among our teams and within our leadership group. In addition to the successful efforts of our Student Athlete Advisory Committee, we have developed this program above and beyond the educational resources provided for our student-athletes."

"And third, we want to have our team leaders understand the bigger community and national problems. With the help of Lisa Cania, Vice President of Community and Employee Relations and Title IX Coordinator, our student group "Stand By Me" and the topics of sexual harassment and bystander training were discussed. Professors Mary Jane Smith and Eve Stoddard led conversations about diversity and inclusion and Associate Dean Allison DelRossi led dialogue on the importance of academic integrity.

"We now ask the captains to pass the information they have gained to their teammates. We have many student athletes who are involved in co-curricular programs across campus in addition to their teams and this gives our athletes the opportunity to influence the culture of St. Lawrence. We want to raise the bar and keep pushing for excellence in everything we do."

While not all captains were able to attend, Durocher is hoping to continue and expand the program. "We want to have another program for returning captains or leaders in May when everyone is still on campus…as we grow the program it may even turn into a half-credit class. We hope this is the start of something special, and our early feedback from those who participated has been nothing but positive."