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A sports literature elective took Tressel back to his teaching days
CANFIELD
Youngstown State University President Jim Tressel returned to his teaching roots while visiting a sports literature class at Canfield High School on Tuesday afternoon.
“I think any time you can get kids interested in reading and dialoguing and thinking about things they hadn’t thought about before, it’s really important,” Tressel said.
The Impact of Literature in Athletics class, started by English teacher Matt Koenig, was not only a vehicle to teach students about sports literature, but a way to teach students about life, Koenig said.
For the class, ninth-grade students were tasked with reading Tressel’s book, “The Winners Manual: For the Game of Life.”
Tressel discussed his “Big 10” fundamentals for success from his book: attitude, discipline, faith, handling adversity and success, excellence, love, toughness, responsibility, team and hope.
An important overlap Tressel found in sports and life was the value of working as a team.
“If you’re ever in a group setting, everybody in that group better feel like their opinion is valued and that they are allowed to have input,” Tressel said. “If it isn’t that way, it won’t be a good group.”
Tressel also talked about individual success and working toward a goal – motivating one another to be the best.
“I don’t want the surgeon operating on me who got the C,” Tressel said. “I want the surgeon working on my knee who got the A.”
Michael Moldovan, Canfield High School principal, said another important aspect the class teaches students is leadership skills.
“A lot of people think maybe a sports literature class like this might be a blow-off, and it’s not – especially when you have things like this. President Tressel came in and not only talked about the book he wrote, but applied these things to everyday life,” Koenig said.
Fiona Lally, ninth-grade student, said although she was initially unsure about adding the fairly new elective to her schedule, she was happy she did.
“I’ve learned a lot – especially with his [Tressel’s] book,” she said.