Maya Moran

November 4, 2019
Shadowing Experience
HDF 413
I was a shadow on the first Advising Program for Student Athletes and the goals of their

program were to develop leadership and get to know each other as underclassmen student

athletes. Since this was my second shadowing experience I felt more comfortable with

facilitating and working with a facilitator. There were supposed to be 80 participants but we only

ended up having about 50. I was shadowing Xavi and her and I talked beforehand about who

would facilitate each activity, planned debrief questions, and had backup plans for each activity.

We had about 10-15 participants in our small group from different sports on campus,

some knew each other and some had never met. Our name game was Chaos, the energizer was

Am I A Butterfly, and the initiative was Minefield (we included Where the Wind Blows and

Walmart in because we had extra time). The lead, facilitators, and shadows communicated well

and were early to the location where the retreat took place to set up, get settled in, and be ready

for the participants to arrive. Something else that went well was my adaptability when we

finished our first energizer “Am I A Butterfly” early and we talked briefly and moved onto a few

energizers that we were comfortable and familiar with. The participants weren’t aware of the

behind the scenes changes and they enjoyed the other energizers the took part in.

One thing that I would change is our pace of activities because we seemed to fly through

each activity and added 2-3 extra energizers to fill the time. It was okay that we had to fill the

time especially because we were prepared and didn’t allow the participants to know that we

ended things earlier then we planned. Something else that I would change is our debrief for the

initiative Minefield. We had questions prepared for the debrief which were fine but I think we
could have done a better job with it. Most of the participants in our group weren’t really talkative

when it came to answering questions for the debrief and we should have made it clear that we

would wait until we got more people to give their input. I need to get more comfortable with

silence in debriefs because the experience is for them and not the facilitators or shadows. But

that is something that I will get more comfortable with and improve on with the more experience

I have with retreats.

What I learned from this retreat is that adaptability and communication is key in order to

have a successful facilitating experience. Something else that I took away from this experience is

that it is okay if not every participant is the most enthusiastic or engaged because you can’t force

them to get something out of the experience. All you can do as a facilitator is be as open,

inclusive, and adaptable so the participants who do want to make the most of the experience can

get something out of it.

One thing that I can apply to future programs is by understanding and knowing the

structure of how retreats work. Also, it’s important to be able to adapt if participants are late or

show up with fewer or more people than we originally planned for and be able to alter our

activities and timing. I also practiced keeping track of time and knowing when to give activates

more time or when it’s the right time to cut things short. I can take practicing professionalism

into leadership roles and future retreats by knowing boundaries, representing SOLC in a positive

way, and knowing when to ask for help or advice from leads or SOLC members that might have

more experience than I do.

All in all, I have learned many skills throughout my two shadowing experiences through

trial and error and collaborating with other SOLC members. I will utilize these things that I have

learned throughout future retreats as well as leadership roles and position. Although I have
already learned a lot I know that I will never stop learning and growing so I will continue to keep

an open mind and ask questions. I am excited to continue learning and growing and challenging

myself to take on different retreats in different leadership roles.