A positive team culture doesn’t happen by accident. Westminster College student-athletes explored how their attitudes, relationships and leadership can shape that culture during a three-hour workshop with Chad Busick on Tuesday, Aug. 25. 

Busick, vice president of athletics and workshop leader for Jon Gordon Companies, led an interactive session in the Witherspoon Rooms of McKelvey Campus for Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representatives, team captains and other athletic leaders. The workshop incorporated concepts from Jon Gordon’s book, “The Power of Positive Leadership.” 

Busick shared stories of successful college teams that he has worked with and how they have used positive mindsets and empowerment skills to become champions. He also discussed how to handle an “energy vampire”—a teammate who is consistently negative—and how to navigate relationships that can affect team culture. 

Jason Lener, director of athletics, invited Busick to campus to help build confidence and excitement among Westminster’s athletic leaders. Lener had been looking for a speaker who could work with both coaches and student-athletes when he came across Busick.  

“This generation of student athletes is vastly different than what were coached generations ago. Part of Chad’s teaching philosophy teaches coaches how to adapt and relate to this generation of athletes,” said Lener.

Busick also met with Westminster student-athletes during an all-athlete meeting the previous week, where he introduced positive mindset tools. He also met with the women’s volleyball team to discuss maintaining positive relationships with teammates while navigating the competitive nature of athletics.

Junior Brooke Gecina, SAAC president and one of the captains of the women’s volleyball team, met with Busick twice—once with her volleyball team and again with the group of student-athletes leaders.  

“Working with him and our volleyball team opened our eyes to the fact that a team only succeeds when you are competing with each other and for one another, not against one another. He taught us the importance of choosing how we want our team culture to look like and how to feed into each other,” said Gecina, a biology major from Richfield, Ohio.

Carissa Tekely, a member of the softball team and a sophomore chemistry major from Saxonburg, Pa., also praised Busick’s lessons and his knowledge of sports mindsets. 

“He taught me how to create a better team atmosphere by minimizing complaints through requesting that players list what they are grateful for when negative thoughts are shared,” she said. “It helps players recognize the way that we talk and feel during practice and competition and allows us to lean into gratitude and our ‘why’ while competing in our sports.”

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By Ava Karpa ’27
Ava Karpa is a student writer in Westminster College’s Office of Marketing and Communication.  

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