From Silver Streak to Lieutenant Colonel: Sara Wood’s Vision for Effective Leadership

The school year is about to start up. It is a chance for a “fresh start” for students in their classes, and for athletes in their sports. In the classroom there are many opportunities to learn and to develop new skills as a problem solver. In athletics, it is a chance to develop a stronger work ethic and improve on the skills of the sport. 

One area of focus for students and athletes is to become stronger leaders. Strong and active leaders in the classroom can elevate an entire class. Invested leaders on a sports team have the ability to turn a good team into a great team. 

Sara Wood graduated from GHS in 1996. She was a tough competitor and an intense leader that helped her Streaks basketball team finish third in State. In a career in the Marines, Sara rose to become a Lieutenant Colonel, specializing in intelligence. She has been an instructor in Cyberspace Operations and also in Information Operations. Presently, she is a Registered Nurse and also is the Intelligence Section Head in the Marine Corps Reserves. 

Sara was a great leader in high school, and she has become an extraordinary leader in one of the most demanding and most disciplined organizations- the Marine Corps. 

In 2020, I asked Sara to share her thoughts the GHS girls basketball team on how to become an effective leader. What Sara had to say is a message that is important for all of us whether we are a student or an athlete in school, or an adult wanting to have a positive impact in our family, our job, or our community. 

Sara Woods thoughts on leadership:

Not everyone can be the best player of her team but everyone has the opportunity to be a leader.  

Leadership involves putting in time to learn not only about your strengths and your weaknesses as an individual player but those of your teammates.  Once you do that, you can put yourself in a position to promote strengths and hide or correct weaknesses.  

When I played (a hundred years ago!), I knew I was never going to be the best player on the team.  I had the fortunate experience of playing with great players like Molly Watson, Bonny Apsey, Steph Mitchell, and Ami Pendry who were all better players and athletes than I was during high school.  I think what allowed me to play and compete with them was my ability to both lead by example and recognize my place on the team.  

Arriving early before practice and establishing a pre-practice routine and staying after practice to work on shooting, ball-handling and conditioning let my teammates know I was serious about getting better, and it showed my teammates that they and the team were important to me. I hoped that putting in extra-work was something would inspire my teammates to do extra-work.

Something that I have learned both through playing basketball for Coach Massey and in the military is the concept of “not going internal.”  When things get hard and you are exhausted it is both easy and natural to turn inward and start feeling sorry for yourself.  If you can instead look outward at what the goal is (winning the game, getting through a tough training session) and focus on how you can be a helper rather than an inhibitor, the tiredness and pain become more acceptable.  

“Get comfortable being uncomfortable.”  In that vein, leaders accept responsibility.  It’s easy when things are going your way and you are winning to feel good and even entitled to praise, but real leaders are made when things are tough and not going the way you want.  Leaders will accept responsibility. Leaders look for ways that they can change to make the situation better, instead of blaming others.

Know your role.  Whether you are a 3-point shooter, assist leader, defensive specialist, or a practice player. Know your role on the team and excel at it.  Be willing to do the hard things even if it’s not what you may personally want.  

I remember really wanting to start as point guard my junior year as I had done as a sophomore, but I recognized that not only was Molly Watson better at that position, but that I would be hurting the team by not improving as an off-guard and taking a different role on the team. 

Do the work.  Whether it is conditioning/skill work in the off-season, watching game-tape, or just supporting your teammates when times are tough. There is always something you can improve.  Although it may look like someone is a natural leader, these are usually the people that are doing the work that nobody sees.