Nicolet High School has offered athlete workshops to its individual programs as well as coach and parent PCA workshops for the last ten years.  This year, PCA was connected with Coach Dan Simmons and the Boys and Girls Cross-Country Team. Typically these workshops are conducted pre-season, or early in the season, but due to the need for modified schedules because of COVID-19, PCA and Nicolet HS worked together and decided it would be best this year to do this workshop prior to the Conference meet at the end of the season.

You can hear about these workshops directly from Coach Simmons as you read below.

PCA Staff Member Keenan Bigg, who worked most closely with Nicolet High School, explained how meaningful it was to have PCA even move the needle the slightest bit when it comes to team culture, remarking, "Coach Simmons story, thankfully, is not an uncommon one in my experience, and it shows how valuable listening and being in tune with your athletes is as a coach."

This is a great example of how important it is to check up on your players before a big game or match. Not only making sure your athletes are physically prepared to play, but more importantly mentally and emotionally ready to go. There are always underlying issues that may hinder the play of athletes and having an open dialogue about those issues will benefit everyone. PCA workshops have proven to be a great way to begin to open that dialogue between coaches and players and PCA hopes to continue to be a guide to having these positive conversations.