Coach Chazz Woodson talks about building good habits early, motivation, and figuring out your “why”

Coach Chazz Woodson talks about building good habits early, motivation, and figuring out your “why”
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Coach Chazz Woodson joined Gunston students and faculty for a question and answer session this past Wednesday, via Zoom as part of the Diversity Leaders Speakers Series. Coach Woodson, a former Major League Lacrosse (MLL) standout, joined Hampton University (HU) in July of 2020 as the new head coach of the men’s lacrosse team, the Pirates. (Read more of Coach Woodson’s background here.)

Coach Woodson began by recalling his experience repeating the fifth grade. “It wasn’t because I couldn’t do the work, but because I didn’t do the work.” He goes on to explain that by that age, (10-11 years) you’re already setting habits that you’ll have for the rest of your life. He recalled receiving letters from recruiters from Princeton, UVA, Duke, Notre Dame and they all said the same thing, “‘Your academics aren’t up to par,’ and they were right. I was a low ‘B’ student with a couple of C’s and I realized that I was losing opportunities because of habits I had formed when I was younger.”

In his senior year of high school, he transferred from Norfolk Academy to Blue Ridge and reinvented himself academically and received straight A’s. “I was lucky that Brown decided to take a chance on me and look past just straight academics. That was a growth experience, one of many small stories that all bring me to where I am now.”

How do you stay motivated and hungry through struggle?

“Everyone needs to identify their “why.” I always knew I wanted to go into education and when it was time to pick a community service project to complete in the 9th grade, I chose an elementary school which had an experimental all-boys class. I went back two years in a row and enjoyed it so much. That experience and working with camps made me realize that this is what I want to do. After college, I applied to Teach for America, which is extremely competitive. You have to attend the Teach for America Institute, and it's brutal, very challenging. I spent one night working until 2 a.m. on lesson plans and I accidentally deleted all of my work and had to re-do it them. I had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. if I wanted to be able to get any breakfast before we boarded a bus and headed out for the day to class.

I had this moment then, where I had to have this conversation with myself about why I even wanted to do this. I’m 22 years old, two weeks out of college and all of my friends have fun summer jobs, or they are on vacation and relaxing, and I am essentially in Teacher Boot Camp, in a bunk bed, awake at 4 a.m. and I just felt this overwhelming sense of responsibility to keep pushing through it.

When you are burned out, you have to have these conversations with yourself. There is a big difference between quitting and deciding to walk away from something that doesn’t serve you.

That day I stayed, but two years later, in my second year of teaching, I had this same conversation and I realized that this isn’t for me, no matter how much I wanted it to be. 

Lacrosse at that time was a white-dominated sport, what was your experience playing a sport where no one looked like you?

“Nobody is immune to the ills of the world, but execution reigns supreme. If you are executing/performing at a consistently high level, there’s not much anyone can say to you that will have much of an impact, I mean, it does, but not that much. I was lucky that there was no social media back then and people weren’t quite as emboldened to say racist things the way they are today. I was very much aware that I was the only Black player, but it didn’t matter that much. I wasn’t too concerned because I had role models, just really great players that helped me be the best I could be.”

How important is it to have a role model?

“My biggest role model as a young kid was [Michael] Jordan but then you realize that you have to stop looking big and start looking around at the people who are tangible and accessible that you can actually interact with. My father, my high school coach, and a young man named D.A. Taylor, who unfortunately passed away from spinal meningitis at 16. I looked up to D.A. from a young age [elementary and middle school], he was a classmate, a camp counselor and an amazing athlete. Many of you are role models and probably don’t even know it.”

What was the transition from high school to collegiate sports to professional sports like?

“Of course it depends on what kind of environment you are coming from and where you’re going. If you’re coming from a small high school to a large college, or vice versa, whatever it is, there are different levels of intensity. You go from playing in front of 50 people from your hometown, to thousands in a stadium and the competitive intensity changes. It doesn’t matter if you’re at a D1 or D3 school, whether you’re in front of 25,000 people or 400, the competition is fierce. My advice is to 1) be in the best shape you can be 2) learn how to manage your time 3) watch films [tapes of games] and learn to watch critically. 

How do you make yourself stand out?

“Play multiple sports because you’re always competing. Good players show up and good players shine. Be respectful, be a good person, and ask good questions. Show them your character and present yourself well.”

How do you separate yourself or forge your own direction when you come from a family of lacrosse players?

“Go somewhere where you’re going to enjoy your own personal experience. Such a small percentage of players actually go on to compete in intercollegiate athletes, regardless of competitive level, even fewer at the professional level, why force yourself to go to an intensely competitive D1 school if you’re just going to sit on the bench? Remember why you picked up the game in the first place. You liked to play, so go somewhere [college] where you can continue to play and have a good experience.”

How would you encourage a player to advocate for themselves?

“First and foremost, talk to your coach. Don’t go home and complain to your parents because they’ll likely call the coach and you’ll be mortified. Learn how to speak for yourself, it's a skill that you’ll need throughout your entire life, when negotiating a contract or in relationships. Sometimes you need to speak up and ask questions so you can improve. Most coaches want to hear from their players because if the athlete shows their investment, it makes the team better. Last, coaches care about you as an athlete and want to hear about your areas of strength and struggle so that they can coach your improvement.”