Blues Score Big on Leadership

Each time a Whitman College women’s soccer or volleyball player notices a teammate demonstrating one of the team’s core values, they write it down and drop the note in a box. Periodically, the team reads the messages aloud, giving them to the recipients to take home.

“It’s a feel-good practice that gives players a chance to acknowledge each other and reinforce the behaviors that make the team successful,” says Matt Helm, Head Women’s Volleyball Coach and Senior Lecturer of Sport Studies.

Like natural talents, every athlete brings different strengths to their leadership style. To help student-athletes identify their own and put them into action, several Whitman coaches have partnered with Captain’s University. The program, designed to empower women leaders through leadership style assessments and training in communication and confidence, has helped develop leadership skills across entire teams.

Since partnering with Captain’s University, “Athletes are just more willing to initiate and engage in situations they might normally shy away from,” says Michelle Voiland, Head Women’s Soccer Coach and Lecturer of Sport Studies. That boldness will serve them far beyond Whitman. “These students—whether they become executives, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs—will draw on the skills they’re learning through athletics for a lifetime,” she says. 

The Drill: Pump Up Peers

The best teams uplift each other. For the Blues, small rituals, intentional training, and a culture built on accountability and connection have been a winning combination.

For example, the women’s soccer team relies on “Blues Buddies” to build confidence and camaraderie. Before competition weekends, players draw names and write a “pump-up letter” to that teammate. “Everybody gets multiple letters throughout the season telling them how special they are, which is really powerful,” says Voiland.

They may not be on the team stat sheets as goals scored or games won, but these acts are meaningful. They build a caring culture in ways that can’t be calculated. 

Recent graduate and women’s soccer team captain Anika Patel ’26, a Computer Science major from Bellevue, Washington, says it’s about the little things. “I learned that leadership shows up in small moments, such as how you support a teammate after a mistake or how you respond to adversity during a tough practice or game.”

The Drill: Practice Leading

“The idea that good leaders are born, not made, is a myth,” says Voiland. “Everyone can be a leader.” Helm agrees.

“Every student at Whitman was in the top 10% of their high school class and has held formal leadership roles,” he says. For some, the transition to college athletics can be challenging as they navigate a new dynamic, but it’s also an opportunity to learn and grow as a Blue.

For Helm and Voiland, that starts with expecting student-athletes to show up at their best—showing respect to teammates, taking on unglamorous tasks when no one’s watching, and bringing their best effort to every drill, scrimmage and competition. When a player isn’t meeting those standards, it becomes a learning moment, says Voiland.

The Drill: Listen to Understand

Leadership doesn’t always look like offering direction or delivering pep talks. It can also look like listening. 

“For young adults … who are trying to figure out who they are and where they fit in, conflict resolution can be especially challenging,” says Voiland. But with training and practice, Whitman student-athletes learn to navigate difficult conversations with a focus on moving the team forward rather than being right. 

“‘Listen to understand’ is a principle we learned from Captain’s University that we come back to all the time,” says Helm. That means approaching conversations with curiosity instead of judgment, respecting different perspectives, and replacing “but” with “and.”

Together, these practices help resolve issues before resentment builds and give student-athletes the foundational skills to lead effectively in whatever paths they pursue beyond Whitman.

For recent graduate and women’s volleyball team captain Jamie Bartok ’26, a Psychology major from Clearlake, Washington, the leadership experience was an inspiration. 

“As a team captain, being involved in the team’s behind-the-scenes operations helped me realize my passion is coaching—which means having the opportunity to help athletes grow not just as players but as people,” she says. She hopes to build a career as a volleyball coach.