DHS Athletic Department Creates Student-Athlete Leadership Team
Students of all grades are given the opportunity to voice their opinions on the team.
December 10, 2022
In October of 2022, Assistant Athletic Director David Harbin held the first meeting of the Student-Athlete Leadership Team (SALT). The goal of SALT is to unite DHS athletes in all sports as well as create a united support system for all athletics.
“[We wanted to] create opportunities for student-athletes to use their voice and connect with Mr. Thomas, Ms. Kelly, and myself,” Harbin explained.
Starting in May 2022, Harbin sought a group of student-athletes to represent their sport on SALT. It was important that all sports received representation so that the DHS Athletic Department could fully understand their feelings. Students were able to apply to be SALT members, get voted by teammates, or have coaches recommend them.
“It’s important to the athletic department and us that it remains a pretty diverse group that we have representatives from all of our programs, that we have representatives of different ages,” Harbin stated.
There are now seven sub-committees of SALT in order for their goals to be efficiently completed. These committees range from supporting student-athletes academically to increasing fan engagement at sporting events.
While the team only meets roughly once a month, it is important to Harbin that some of the short-term goals are executed this school year.
“At this point, step one is like meeting with administration to say, ‘Hey, this is something that we feel is important, who are the right people to connect to,’” Harbin said.
At their most recent meeting on Dec. 6, representatives from the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) came to speak to the SALT about their goals for youth sports. The primary goal of PCA is for youth to be competitive in their sports but also for students to learn life lessons through sports. The SALT hopes to characterize the goals of PCA at DHS.
“It’s like, how do we make sure that all of our athletic programs are not just competitive but that students are having a good experience going through it and that they are high character people when they leave,” Harbin said.
