Joe Karlgaard, Ph.D.

Dear Friends,

Spring is here! I hope the new year has treated you well. We have worked the past few months at accomplishing several of our department goals, and I am pleased to report tremendous success. My own enthusiasm for Oberlin athletics and physical education has grown by leaps and bounds thanks to the dedication of our coaches, staff, scholar-athletes, and alumni. Let me tell you why.

Those associated with college athletics tend to be very goal-oriented. Such an outlook on our department mission has many tangible benefits. Goals typically can be measured, and it becomes very easy to associate success with the achievement of our personal, team-specific, and department-wide goals. At the end of each season, coaches, staff, and scholar-athletes can look back on their body of work over the past few months and compare it to the expectations set at the commencement of practice. Did we win as many games as we set out to win? Did we commit fewer turnovers? Did I jump higher than I did last year? Each of these questions has an easy answer and holds accountable those involved in the goal-setting.

Sometimes, however, deeper, cultural changes occur that are difficult to measure but obvious even to the most casual observer. I witnessed such changes this season in men’s basketball. While the team clearly improved in nearly every statistical category measurable, the far more beneficial change sprung from the belief and attitude of the Yeomen players and staff. Oberlin took the floor in each game this year understanding that, through execution of a game-plan, the absence of fear for the opponent, and ceaseless determination, winning was possible. Several times I found myself wrapped up in the outcome only to realize, after a night’s rest, that the process can be just as beneficial.

This profound cultural change opened the pathway to learning for our scholar-athletes. The men’s basketball team was able to engage in an ongoing test of theory and practice that would make John Dewey smile – how can we be successful today (a theory, or game plan), how might we test ourselves (competition), and how might we revise our theory or game plan to achieve success next time (practice).

Winning is very important to those of us who dedicate most of our daily lives to pursuing excellence in athletics at Oberlin. But while I do not mean to dismiss the ultimate, very tangible prize of victory as a worthwhile pursuit, I do believe that the process followed in competing to win is more important than the victory itself. Athletics is well-suited to teaching the links between theory and practice that are essential to lifelong success in any pursuit.

As we evaluate the progress made during the Oberlin athletics renaissance of the past four years, we must not forget the substantial benefits accrued through learning how to win. In this sense, chalk up the fall and winter sports seasons as tremendously successful for the College.

Joe Karlgaard
Delta Lodge Director of Athletics and Physical Education

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