On Friday, October 20th Oak Knoll had an assembly where performance consultant Brett Ledbetter came to speak to the upper school. Student Zoe Harmaty organized the assembly and introduced Ledbetter. Brett Ledbetter is the author of 4 books, a three-time TEDx speaker, and co-founder of the “What Drives Winning” conference. He has helped tons of athletes thrive during performance. He has been hired by athletic teams and departments to aid coaches and athletes in understanding the processes of having a better mindset.
He began the assembly by asking students to group together and answer questions. He was very interactive with the audience and involved students by giving them a chance to speak and answer questions. He was very driven to improve performance by focusing on mental health. In small groups of students and a teacher, he asked the groups to answer questions about social media, internal voice versus public voice, elements that challenged them as athletes and people, and the biggest characteristics each person wanted to improve. Ledbetter wanted students to think about improvements they could make regarding their performance and relationships with everyone around them. Whether that meant being more motivated or empathetic, he knew everyone could improve in those categories. His focus when setting goals was on the process, not the end result. He preached the importance of focusing on what you can control and not stressing about the things you can’t control. Ledbetter wanted students to recognize that they should talk to themselves like they talk to their friends. This would be more uplifting as you would never put your friends down like you do to yourself. Overall, everyone left the assembly with a new perspective on improvement and how to enhance their overall performance, whether it was in sports, academics, or relationships.