9 hours ago
Oasis Conference hopes to teach live lessons using power of sports
Sports can teach so much, and that's the goal of the upcoming Oasis Conference. It's life lessons off the field or court that can lead to progress, teamwork and success.
Oasis is part of Orange Arrow, a non-profit operating in Pittsburgh for more than a decade. The goal is to show children paths to success on and off the field.
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Orange Arrow founder Shawn Robinson decided to expand these lessons to adults in hopes of forging conversations, relationships and collaboration.
'I think we need to cast as wide a net as we can and try to touch as many people as we can to help make our collective world a better place,' said Steelers Media Relations Director Burt Lauten. 'The great thing is that we teach and educate these young student athletes to do it the right way, to not just be able to tell it in your own words, but do it the right way, and make sure that it's understanding and it's professional.'
'The great part about adults is we teach our children what we know, what we learn. So by Shawn going out and extending the web a little bit more to reach adults, I think it's a great idea,' said E.J. Borghetti from Pitt's Athletic Department."
Lauten and Borghetti are among the speakers set for the Oasis Conference. The goal is to transform the sports community by fostering winning teams within organizations. Both know Robinson well from his time as a Pitt football player.
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'The ball stops bouncing for everybody. Sean realized that he was an excellent player at Pitt, but then you have all this life ahead of you, and yet that very small time you have it as an athlete can impress ideals and lessons and values upon you that you will use for decades to come,' Borghetti said.
'You have the younger kids, the kids that are coming up that when the ball stops bouncing, as EJ said, they already have an understanding of what it means to be in the community, what it means to be a leader, what it means to empower others, what it means to be financially stable and everything,' Lauten added.
The subject of Borghetti's and Lauten's panel is the power of storytelling, and what comes with it, both good and bad.
'Whether it's somebody that they may not know off the field or whatever it may be, once you tell that story, it's almost like their perception, even around the building, around their peers, around their teammates changes,' Lauten said. 'It could be something tragic that happened to them, that they use that as a sounding board to get through their own personal feelings.'
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Both discussed local athletes like the Steelers' Cam Heyward. Through his foundation, Heyward House, he has shared stories of success and hope. His is just one of many stories like this.
'If we tell a story about a Pittsburgh Steeler that maybe some people don't know, an off-the-field type story, it's interesting. Then how many other players, staff or fans say, 'hey, I had somebody go through something similiar,'' Lauten said.
Borghetti reflected on a conversation he had with former Pitt running back James Conner, when he was going through treatment for lymphoma.
'I remember having that conversation with James in the green room of the Ellen Show,' Borghetti reflected. 'We were talking, and I said, 'you know, I don't know how many football fans are going to be watching this today, but there's a lot of people who are going to be watching, and they may not know you now, but they're going to listen to your story, and somebody's going to be out there who's going through a time of adversity and struggle. They're going to hear how heroically you're handling all this, and they're going to get up and say, You know what, I'm going to try, I'm going to try again. I'm going to get myself up.''
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It's all part of a responsibility that we all have, not just to share these stories, but to really listen and learn from them.
'For the good of the athlete, for the good of the student, and for the good of the larger public sports, isn't just about numbers,' Borghetti said. 'It's about the human, their struggle, their pursuit of greatness and the excellence they achieve. I think people want to hear those stories. They want to be inspired.'
There are many more well-known speakers set up for the Oasis Conference, including keynote speaker Jim Tressel, who was the head football coach at Ohio State University for years.
To get tickets to the conference, click here.
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