Evan Burden, left, and Dave Sichterman; photo by Aubrey Bartel
On Wednesday, Nov. 20, Bluffton’s Exercise Science Club hosted Dave Sichterman, a leadership speaker, in an attempt to revive the club.
“The Exercise Science Club was pretty inactive when I heard about it,” Eric Bender, president of the club, said. “Once I heard the club was inactive, I took it upon myself to take it over and try to help restart the club.”
Bender said he thought this would be a good first step in generating interest in the club because it was an event that could reach a large portion of Bluffton’s students.
“I thought this would be particularly interesting to athletes, which there are a lot of at Bluffton, but leadership also applies to anything that we might do after graduation,” Bender said. “I thought the speaker was a way to reach a lot of people, not just those interested in exercise science or with an interest in sports.”
After researching different speakers, Sichterman stood out to Bender because of his experience speaking to young adults.
“You can definitely tell that he is very proficient with public speaking,” Bender said. “He has experience playing sports, coaching sports and refereeing different sports, so it was interesting to hear his views on leadership from each area that he had experience.”
Sichterman has done more than 100 presentations throughout the country. He’s played football internationally and has been an athletic director and coach at the collegiate level. He’s also the owner and founder of Arete 360, a leadership training and coaching company.
“When I was younger, I was always fascinated by people who could speak in front of large groups and tell great stories, educate about a specific topic and share their experiences in an entertaining manner,” Sichterman said. “As a former athlete, I compare my speaking programs/presentations to game days. I’m nervous in a good way, but always very excited to share my information and experiences.”
Around 150 students, as well as several coaches, were in attendance to hear Sichterman’s presentation.
“The main point of my message in my presentation is that in order to influence and impact others, you need to present yourself in a positive way,” Sichterman said. “Being positive, nice and authentic is the best way to build relationships in order to lead others.”
While Sichterman enjoys public speaking, he said his favorite part of events like this is the relationship building and getting the opportunity to meet and learn about new people. Sichterman said he felt as though he was able to do this at Bluffton.
“I left Bluffton’s campus with a great impression of the community,” Sichterman said. “With the number of coaches and faculty in attendance and the way the students handled their business, we could tell that it is a caring campus committed to its mission wanting nothing but the best for the students.”
Bender said he got a lot of positive feedback regarding the event. He is hoping to use that positive momentum to continue growing the exercise science club.
“In the future, we as a club hope to put on a Bluffton combine, similar to the NFL combine,” Bender said. “We also hope to host a color run, either on campus or with the whole Bluffton community.”
