Welcome to the Director Download, powered by Campus Rec Magazine.
It’s time to go behind the curtain of the director role and have honest discussions with leaders in the campus recreation industry.
In this episode, host Grady Sheffield, the director of campus recreation at Towson University and senior advisor to the Campus Rec Mastermind Groups, gives you the listener real and authentic conversation between himself and special guest, Laura Hall, the director of Recreational Sports at the University of Florida (UF).
In this interview, Hall shares about the unorthodox way she entered campus recreation and the lessons she was able to pull from her unique past experiences — hint, it has to do with coaching.
Eventually, she found herself at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), creating a department through the years only to one day lead it during a pandemic. It was a tough experience and there are things she would have done differently. However, in need of a reset, she found her way to the University of Florida where she’s taken well-being and flexibility to a new level.
Listen to her lessons learned, experiences had and more in the conversation that follows.
Show Notes from the Conversation with Laura Hall
- The unorthodox way Hall entered campus recreation.
- At the University of California, Davis, she had a unique experience overseeing super new program areas. Find out what those were at 3:01.
- Applying lessons from coaching basketball to collegiate rec at 4:44.
- Why Hall’s family dynamics were in shambles at one point at her career. Listen at 6:45.
- What drew Hall to Penn State at 8:30.
- How she helped activate the vision set forth for campus recreation at Penn State.
- Touring the area of Penn State didn’t happen by car — find out how Hall saw the area at 13:11.
- How her move to UF was a different sort of reset after leading through COVID-19 at Penn State.
- Why leaders need to pay particular attention to what staff need. Find out at 19:48.
- What modeling well-being and flexibility looks like for Hall at UF.
- The thing she would have done differently in leaving Penn State to go to UF at 25:02.
