The Campbell Reporter

Education

Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

Team Player: Pam Zielazowski, the Leigh High School athletic director who also coaches girls tennis and track and field, was honored as one of the California Interscholastic Federation's model coaches for 2006-07.

Leigh High School athletic director honored for 'six pillars of character'

By Anne Gelhaus

There's no "I" in team, but to Pam Zielazowski, helping the individual students she coaches at Leigh High School improve as citizens of the world is as important as developing their athletic abilities.

Zielazowski, who coaches girls tennis and track and field and serves as Leigh's athletic director, was named a model coach for the current school year by the California Interscholastic Federation, a group of high school coaches and principals dedicated to the idea of "pursuing victory with honor."

Zielazowski is one of 15 coaches from campuses across the state being honored for demonstrating and teaching the CIF's "six pillars of character" to her student athletes. These half-dozen core values are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and good citizenship.

"I truly believe in the six pillars, and I think I instill that in my athletes," Zielazowski says. "My focus as an athletic director is to make sure the other coaches do, too."

The coach says instilling these values in her students helps ensure they have a positive high school sports experience.

"As an athlete, I had a great experience in high school that carried over to the college level," Zielazowski says. "It builds character and respect. You're involved with a team; that builds camaraderie. You learn to communicate and be fair with people and care about what other people are doing."

Zielazowski insists that her athletes maintain a high degree of sportsmanship on the tennis court or the track.

"I tell kids, 'You win or lose with dignity,' " she says. "There's always going to be someone bigger, better and stronger than you in high school athletics. If you can deal with that, it helps you become a better player."

Barbara Beard, commissioner of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, nominated Zielazowski for the CIF award. Leigh is one of the league's 24 member high schools, and Zielazowski serves on the BVAL executive committee.

"Pam has been a leader at Leigh High School and a model for all athletic directors in the valley," Beard says. "The programs that Pam has established at Leigh stand up to the principles of pursuing victory with honor, and she expects that her community will follow and support her efforts."

The Leigh coach also co-founded the BVAL's annual Honor the Game Sportsmanship conference, designed to encourage coaches, athletes, administrators and parents to help students model the six pillars off the playing field.

"The BVAL has done a great thing in making sportsmanship a priority," Zielazowski says. "If kids respect the game, they'll become better citizens."

While victory is still the goal for the students she coaches, Zielazowski says winning isn't everything.

"Athletes need to feel good about themselves," she says. "Studies show it's not about winning; it's about kids having fun."

The more fun student athletes have, Zielazowski says, the more likely they are to plays sports as adults.

"A lot of my former athletes are still involved in community teams or are working out and exercising," she says. "In the last couple years we've had a lot of students who've wanted to come back to Leigh and coach."

While these returning alumni reflect well on Leigh's athletic program, Zielazowski says she's pleased to have her coaching efforts recognized by a statewide organization such as the CIF.

"It's a really big deal," she says. "They don't give a lot of these awards out. For someone to recognize something I've done for 20 years is a really nice honor."