By Hogan LePore
GoMason.com Staff Writer

The Washington Capitals had Alex Ovechkin.

The Golden State Warriors had Steph Curry.

The Philadelphia Eagles had Nick Foles.

The Villanova Wildcats had Jalen Brunson.

2018 championship teams each had a common denominator: these players, as well as other key members of the teams, developed tremendous leadership skills throughout their careers.

Leadership is the engine that drives a championship-caliber organization, and the Atlantic 10 hopes its recent leadership summit helps the conference, as a whole, hone and develop those skills further.
 
The Atlantic 10 Leadership Summit commenced Saturday, Sept. 22 with A-10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade guest speaking, along with Kevin Eastman. The two-day event was held at The Westin Washington located in the D.C. City Center.
 
Eastman, a former collegiate champion and NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, walked the 28 basketball student-athletes through the two-day seminar, where he discussed leadership both on and off the court.
 
Junior Jacy Bolton attended for the Mason women's basketball team, while junior Justin Kier represented the men's basketball team. 
 
The two were selected by their respective head coaches and embraced the opportunity to represent George Mason at the summit, along with retaining valuable information for not only their team, but themselves.
 
Eastman has had the privilege to work alongside many great basketball players from the NBA and WNBA throughout his career, and the students took notice.
 
"Eastman is connected to players like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James," Kier said. "He told us how hard those guys worked both physically and mentally. He talked about their philosophy on the game, seeing what they did through their collegiate and professional careers, and how they led their teams and teammates to success."
 
A big focus of this summit was leadership on the court. From Saturday to Sunday, student-athletes were in meetings with guest speakers and sat in on panels discussing what it takes to become a great leader and how developing that attribute can help your team become successful.
 
The A-10 summit provided student-athletes with binders of the presentations, giving the athletes a physical version of the summit. The binder was around 40 pages worth of notes on leadership and quotes from great athletes who have developed the trait for a very long time.
 
Bolton believes the summit will make her more analytical on the court, assessing the team's needs play-by-play.
 
"It will help me recognize what our teams needs in certain moments," Bolton said. "Do we need a little bit more energy? Do we need composure? All of those little things that go unnoticed but make a big difference throughout the game. Being a leader isn't always the fun job, but I think I can do it for this team and the seminar helped me strengthen that trait."
 
For Kier, he hopes the summit can help him on the court during stressful situations, when communication is key to helping his team.
 
"When I get tired, I tend to get quiet," the guard said. "It will help me play through adversity and continue to communicate, especially on the court. I want to be a teammate where my peers can come to me for help on the court and off of it. I also want to be someone who can take criticism and have my teammates feel comfortable coming to me with issues. As a captain and a leader of this team I think it was important and really beneficial for me to go."
 
Later in life, in the workplace, Kier believes this event will help him learn a lot about persistence. When Eastman discussed the work ethic that guys like LeBron and Kobe had, Kier felt that had as much to do off the court as it did on the court.
 
Bolton believes that the stories each guest speaker had really motivated her to not only be the best she can be for her team, but for herself moving forward in life.
 
"It was really eye-opening," Bolton said. "A lot of people say, 'the ball stops bouncing after your four years,' but for these people who continue to be leaders and still have the passion…it was very motivating to see them."