ORANGE GROVE, Texas — Orange Grove High School varsity volleyball player Talee Okas says the new character curriculum has taught her to become the best she can be.
“I’ve learned more about myself that I have known and it’s really opened my eyes to how I act and how I portray myself to other people,” said Okas.
Young athletes in grades 7-12 must take part in the character curriculum taught by their coaches.
“We have got to ask ourselves two questions at the end of the season. One have we underachieved/overachieved on the field or court? And two, have we developed better young men, better young ladies? If we can answer those questions we’ve done our jobs as coaches,” said Orange Grove ISD Athletic Director Mark DelPercio.
As part of the curriculum, all student-athletes, in-person, and virtual must complete their lessons weekly. Assignments include topics like “Impress VS. Impact” to even leadership lessons.
“I’m in two of them because I’m also in leadership, so I learn a lot about leadership and how to communicate with people like people in my age group,” said Orange Grove H.S. varsity football player Mason Charo.
Athletic staff says the goal of the character curriculum is to teach the young minds the game of life, outside the x’s and o’s.
“If we look at as just wins and losses then you fall apart with the loss and you say okay we haven’t accomplished a whole lot, so yeah we want to win but at the end of the day we want to make sure we are developing great people,” said DelPercio.
