On Friday, April 25th, all spring sports captains along the shoreline took a field trip to Haddam-Killingworth (HK) High School, where students participated in team-building activities and an informational session with guest speaker, Kendrick Moore.

Guest speaker Kendrick Moore, former D1 basketball coach, partnered with CIAC as well as the Shoreline Conference to talk to student athletes about challenges they might face during their sport, especially as a captain who keeps the team together. He also spoke on how to get through tough times in a season. 

Kendrick Moore is currently the president of the Moore Basketball Clinic/Moore Motivation as well as the assistant director of equity and leadership at CAS – CIAC.

Student captains left Morgan a little after 9:30 am that Friday. As soon as the athletes arrived at HK, the students got pulled on stage to introduce themselves to everyone one by one. After everyone introduced themselves, Kendrick Moore gave his speech and advice to the captains on athletic motivation. Once Kendrick’s speech was done, the student athletes had an opportunity to talk to the other captains of the same sport from the other schools present.

Athletic director here at Morgan, Mrs. Sears, believes that the trip was very needed and worth taking, Mrs. Sears said, “absolutely, we focused on trying to make it more engaging for the students with Kendrick, and also an opportunity in the second half to engage with each other from different schools.”

However, for those who have seen Moore before, the message became a bit repetitive. Cora Dunham, senior girls’ lacrosse captain here at Morgan, said, “The first time I went in the fall, I took his lesson more personally, I felt more like he was talking more personally to the athlete. When I went back in the spring, I felt more like it was about being a captain and showing it. I also felt like these trips were very repetitive.”

Nonetheless, this trip has been taken before, and is supposed to take place again annually in the coming years. Student athlete Nina Fishman, captain of the girls’ softball team here at Morgan, said, “I found it helpful just to hear what other teams went through and that it is not just our teams facing challenges, and then hearing how the guest speaker responded to these situations. This advice he gave, and just how to push through as a captain.”