AMHERST, N.Y. -- A pair of Daemen University student athletes represented the Wildcats at two different leadership conventions that they each attended last month. Senior
Maggie Burns (Louisville, Ky.) of the Daemen women's volleyball team participated in the
NCAA Student Athlete Leadership Forum (SALF) in Baltimore, Md. on April 13-16, and junior Kaytlyn Matz (Johnsburg, Ill.) of Daemen women's basketball attended the Division II
Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Super Region Convention from April 14-16 in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The SALF forum featured student-athletes from all NCAA divisions from all over the country whose purpose was to leave the convention with a better self-awareness of their own leadership techniques and relationships. Not just anyone can sign up to go to this major forum; Burns had to first be recommended by administration at Daemen before she could apply to attend. She was accepted by the NCAA in March, a month before the forum. Not only did Burns represent Daemen while she was there, she was also one of four attendees representing the East Coast Conference.
The SAAC Super Region Convention was intended to increase student-athlete participation in their governance structure, and to increase communication between different SAAC committees at the conference, regional, and national levels. Matz was also nominated to represent both her school and the ECC by the Daemen administration and her coach, Jenepher Banker.
While at the conference, along with Suzie Yormick-DeNillo, Daemen's Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance, Matz learned more about the issue student-athletes are having at their respective institutions when it comes to Athletics. She also had the opportunity to listen to several guest speakers who talked about controversial topics like student-athlete mental health.
"One of my favorite speakers was Ivy Watts; she was somebody that I thought was really cool. She talked a lot about mental health for student-athletes, which is usually a stigma of mental toughness, but being able to recognize that it is okay to not be okay and to get help if you need," Matz said.
Along with discussing mental health, the SALF leadership forum spoke on topics like emotional intelligence, relationships, and mental toughness. Emotional intelligence was broken down into four sections, with one of them being self awareness, which Burns mentioned was one of her greatest takeaways from the entire experience. 
"One thing that stood out to me, because I see it lacking as a whole, was self awareness. I think as a leader you have to be able to be self aware. You can't hold people accountable until you're doing it yourself," Burns said.
Matz and Burns were both selected to represent Daemen because they are both interested in honing their leadership skills as they continue to grow through their college career. The SAAC regional convention gave Matz the opportunity to showcase her ability to do so. She spoke on stage to the entire convention to present her region's conference plan to improve dining hall hours for student-athletes who have practices outside of those hours.
While Burns didn't speak to a large audience, she recalled a conversation she had with a University of Kansas lineman who was in her breakout group at the forum. She spoke on his openness with his opinions and emotions regarding the topics that had been discussed that weekend. Burns said that the student-athlete mentioned he enjoyed their breakout conversation since he doesn't get that openness in return from his teammates because of the stigma about discussing your feelings.
Overall, this experience for two of Daemen's most ambitious student-athletes was hard to come by or replicate. When asked, both said they would go back again. For Matz, she enjoyed getting to know different people, and taking in different strategies and techniques to help improve Daemen Athletics.
"I heard that this conference only happens every four years, so I feel very honored to have gotten to experience this and learn all that I did," Matz said regarding her experience.
It was nothing short of an honor for Burns as well. She was able to take away lessons that will be immediately implemented into her life as a student, athlete, and leader. "The experience was so eye opening and there are no other words for it besides setting my soul on fire because of how amazing it was," Burns said.
Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.
