Meeting

Report

KATIE MEIER
Head Coach
Women's Basketball Team
UNCC Charlotte
By: Matt Joyner

Katie Tyler introduced the guest speaker, Katie Meier, Head Coach of the UNCC women’s basketball team. She noted that Meier was ACC Rookie of the Year as an undergraduate at Duke University as well as an Academic All American, and that she was unusual among coaches in that volumes of Chaucer and Shakespeare graced her office bookshelves along with the usual sports fare. Meier joined the Lady 49’ers as head coach in 2001 after a successful stint at Tulane.
 
Coach Meier said that she had developed her coaching philosophies during her 8 years as an assistant coach and from a description of her by one of her players as being “very driven” she had developed the following motto:
 
D – Discipline R – Respect I – Intensity V – Vision E - Enthusiasm

With regard to Discipline, Meier said she has very clear rules for her team, and that when an individual member does something bad or out of character during a game the entire team reports for a 6 a.m. “40 minutes of respect” workout the following morning. Meier noted that punishment had to involve the whole team because internal discipline could only come from the whole team.
 
With regard to Vision, Meier said that she is disturbed during recruiting meetings in homes to see that “people are not dreaming any more,” resulting in a “lack of investment” by young people in achieving their goals. She noted that the younger generation is very “hopeful” in wanting things to go their way, but not necessarily prepared to work to achieve them. Consequently she has posted in the team’s locker room Churchill’s quote, “Hoping and praying for victory is fine, but deserving it is what really matters.” Meier stated that her vision for the UNCC Women’s Basketball Team is nothing less than a national championship.
 
With regard to Enthusiasm, Meier quoted Emerson: “Nothing great is accomplished without enthusiasm.” Meier is such a believer in the power and necessity of enthusiasm that she even rewards her team for displaying fake enthusiasm in practice, knowing that “like perfume” when one person has it a little bit gets on everyone.
 
Meier said that as a leader she seeks to surround herself with very honest people and be a “courageous listener.” She sees the greatest challenge to a leader as being able to handle the truth and to not fall into the self-delusional trap of the Emperor’s New Clothes. Her greatest concern for women’s basketball: today’s parents who are unable to keep their perspective on their children’s talents, even when their children are realistic about themselves.
 
Meier’s take on the difference between coaching men and coaching women: how long does the problem last? She noted that men can fight on court, then drop it and go out together after the game. Women however tend to hold on to the dispute longer and have difficulty challenging each other to their face. Developing women’s confidence in their leadership abilities is Meier’s solution.
 
Head Table:
Ed Kizer, Tim Hunt, Katie Tyler, Tom Robertson, Claude Lilly, Pat Millen; Invocation: Ward Matthews
 
Visitors and Guests:
Jeff Triplette; Music: Fourth Grade Class, Park Road Montessori School

Attendance Record 12/16/03 12/17/02 visitors & guests 15 14 club members 182 189 total attendance 197 203 Wedding Anniversaries 23 Frannie and Pete deWitt 24 Mary and John Galles 24 Marcia and Jerry Orr 24 Jan and Mike Wilkinson 26 Mary Jane and Chuck Hoch 27 Marie and Ray Brietz 27 Sallie and Fred Lowrance 27 Ruth and Ed Wadsworth 28 Jeannie and Rick Falknor 29 Beverly and Jim Kothe    New Members - December Ed Lewis Jody Billiard Gregg Walker Charlie Pitts    Roaming Rotarians Ronnie Pruett,  San Jose Noreste, Costa Rica Birthdays and Birthplaces 23 Ervin Jackson, Birmingham, AL 24 John Johnson, Birmingham, AL 25 Pender McElroy, Asheville, NC 25 Bill Kinney, Winston Salem, NC 27 Pam Dittloff, Glencove, NY 27 Louis Rose, Charlotte, NC 27 Rick Wrenn, Anderson, SC 27 Chuck Panoff, Brooklyn, NY 28 Tebee Hawkins, Atlanta, GA 28 Kip Kiser, Indiana

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