Last week Beech Grove High School hosted student athletes, coaches, and staff for the first Hoosier Legends Student Athlete Leadership Conference. Currently, this new conference consists of six schools: Beech Grove, Speedway, Triton Central, Tri-West, Indian Creek, and Monrovia. Greenwood and Shelbyville will join the conference next year to round out an eight school conference. The Student Athlete Leadership Conference gave students from the conference schools an opportunity to meet and build relationships outside of their athletic competitions. Students, coaches, and staff had the opportunity to discuss important topics that impact every student athlete and their teams. The goal of the conference was for the student athletic leadership teams to take these lessons back to their schools, teams, and community to create positive cultures around sportsmanship, competition, and respect. The conference kicked off with some ice breaker games and plenty of doughnuts donated by Long’s Bakery. Students then gathered in the auditorium welcomed by Beech Grove’s district and school leadership. Athletic Director, Garret Daniel, spoke to the group about the importance and the impact of sportsmanship. Mr. Daniel encouraged the students to lead by example and to show others what it looks like to win with class and lose with dignity. After the welcome presentation, students broke into small group sessions led by HLC coaches and athletic staff. Indian Creek head football coach, Coach Goodin, led his group in a discussion centered around the theme of “compliance vs. competitive.” Coach Clampitt, Speedway’s head football coach, discussed what leadership looks like in a student athlete. To round out the group sessions Monrovia Athletic Director, Jon Regashus spoke about gender equity. Students left the event with a specific call to action: Play Hard. Play Fair. Play with class. We are excited for all of our upcoming conference matchups and the opportunities the Hoosier Legends conference will bring to our student athletes. We’d like to thank Long’s Bakery, Team Image Apparel, and Chick-Fil-A for providing food and custom shirts to our students at the event. We’re looking forward to more leadership conferences in the future.