Tar Heel Travelers: Victoria McGee
June 19, 2015 | Women's Rowing
The Tar Heel Travelers series is back! Throughout the summer, Carolina student-athletes will give GoHeels.com readers a glimpse at their travels and/or internships. Next up is Victoria McGee, a rising senior on the UNC rowing team. McGee, an exercise and sport science major, participated in the NCAA Career in Sports Forum in Indianapolis.
Hello Tar Heels!
My name is Victoria McGee and I am a rising senior on the rowing team. I am studying exercise and sport science with a coaching education minor. The weekend before last I represented North Carolina in Indianapolis for the NCAA's Career in Sports Forum, a four-day forum for student-athletes from across all levels of the NCAA to learn more about career options in sports, particularly at the collegiate level. I was nominated by the athletic department, specifically student-athlete development, to apply, and then chosen from a pool of about a thousand applicants to attend.
At the forum, we got to engage with speakers and network with individuals that work in different areas within the sport world, including coaches and trainers, athletic directors, conference commissioners, and staff from the NCAA office. The speakers shared their journeys and current professional roles, along with their values and insights to how they are successful. We had the opportunity at the end of each speaker session to ask questions. Besides just hearing about careers in sports, we also heard from a social media expert about networking and “building our brands.”
Each student-athlete was also assigned to a color team (shout out to Team Purple!) where we participated in breakout sessions with awesome facilitators. Within our team, we chatted about our personal core values, discussed ways in which our experiences as student-athletes apply beyond the playing field, dove into the array of careers available in the collegiate sport world and the interworkings of an athletic department, and examined our DiSC workplace assessments. I loved interacting with a small group of people who strongly believe in what we are each doing. As a group we clicked from the first day; we respected one other and valued what each another had to say. This allowed us to go deeper into topics and learn more from different angles and various backgrounds. My eyes were really opened as to the amount of resources and opportunities available to me as a student-athlete at the University of North Carolina. For example, no one rivals the amount of time the Leadership Academy invests in student-athlete development, and that is something I am thankful for.
Taking the DiSC again and exploring my results from another angle was helpful. I have taken the DiSC assessment, which gauges your workplace behavioral style, three times now with three different results, the most recent a few weeks ago for this forum. After sharing this with my color team while talking through our DiSC's, someone mentioned that based on my experiences and growth into my own self over the past three years, it makes sense that my DiSC has changed slightly and evolved into something that now I personally think applies to me the most. Now, I can use what I know to more effectively and efficiently lead our team and myself.
Two pieces of advice that resonated with me are “culture is the little things that make the big things happen,” which emphasizes the importance of expressing core values, and “capture the passion that exists,” which reminds me of the incredible value and strength that lies in the raw passion and excitement of each of my teammates and how, when used collectively, that passion can drive results.
The weekend confirmed and elevated my passion for athletics and for my future career in coaching. I most enjoyed interacting with other student athletes on such a vibrant color team. I can't wait to apply the insight I gained to my rowing and our team in the upcoming year and in my future career as a coach!
Players Mentioned
