Teaching Life Lessons A Big Part Of Athletics

(From the March-April 2014 issue of The Blarney Stone)
 
Assistant athletic director Maureen Radulski believes that building character and learning life’s lessons are important for today’s student-athlete

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Notre Dame’s assistant athletic director Maureen Radulski says that among other things, playing sports builds character. In fact, she says that building character and helping to teach life’s lessons are some of the main things on which the school’s athletics department focuses.
 
“When we make decisions as a department, we always keep those things at the forefront,” she says. “In addition, it is important to me to provide excellent customer service not only to our student-athletes but to our parents as well. For me and for Dean (Allen, also an assistant athletic director), it is also our job to know all of the MHSAA rules. When parents and students have questions, we always want to be available to help with the right answers.”
 
Radulski came to Notre Dame in the summer of 2013 from Houghton Lake High School in Houghton Lake, Mich., where she served as athletic director for the 600-student school. She replaced Megan Thayer, who now is athletic director at Bishop Foley High School in Madison Heights. While at Houghton Lake, Radulski also served as a member of the adjunct faculty at Baker College in Cadillac, Mich., and prior to that was an assistant manager of operations at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
 
She is a certified athletic administrator and holds a B.S. in business administration and an M.A. in sports administration from Central Michigan University. She moved to southeast Michigan before school started in the fall and enrolled her twin boys at Notre Dame Marist Academy’s lower division.
 
“Troy and Blake turned 6 in November and currently they are in kindergarten,” she says. “I am amazed at what they’ve learned so far since starting school in August. Blake has found a passion for learning Spanish. In fact, he taught his entire recreation soccer team to count in Spanish during stretching! Both my boys use Spanish interchangeably at home, sometimes without even realizing it!”
 
Radulski says she is very thankful to have her kids attend Notre Dame. “The administration and teachers are all powerful mentors for my children, not only with the excellent academics, but for learning and practicing the Catholic faith as well.”
 
As an assistant AD, Radulski’s specific responsibilities include promoting student-athlete scholarship and leadership opportunities and providing support during the application process. “I also conduct the pre-season parent and coach meetings, publish and distribute weekly athletic and coaching newsletters, compile and publish the athletic end-of-year report, communicate eligibility of student-athletes to the MHSAA (Michigan High School Athletic Association) and CHSL (Catholic High School League), and manage the summer-camp registration process.”
 
Whew!
 
In addition to these major office duties, you also will likely find her, Allen and athletic director Betty Wroubel helping with the setting up and tearing down of games on nights and weekends. It’s not all work, though, as Radulski says she gets a huge kick out of watching the kids compete. “There is something about watching an athlete have an ‘a-ha’ moment during the season when he or she connects everything they have been taught with their hard work and determination.”
 
Radulski thoroughly enjoys being part of the Notre Dame experience and feels completely comfortable on campus. “The Notre Dame community has embraced me from the moment my family and I stepped foot on campus,” she says. “And I believe in the school’s mission.”
 
As for the future, in the long term, Radulski wants to continue her career in athletics administration. “I also see myself continuing to be involved with the MHSAA by serving in leadership roles so that the positive relationship our school already has with that organization continues to thrive.”
 
In the short term, she is looking forward to heading up the school’s intramurals program next year as well as a student leadership class she will be teaching in the fall. “The leadership class is an exciting new opportunity for students and I am very happy to be a part of it.”


 
Follow Notre Dame at @NDPMA.
 
About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.

 



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