The History of The Leadership Academy
31st
out of 32.
In Coach Parker’s first season as wrestling coach at Washburn Rural High School, at the state tournament his team finished 31st out of 32 teams. During that difficult first season, Coach Parker once said to his wife, “if someone would write a book that taught high school coaches how to teach their athletes to be great leaders, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.”
That book didn’t exist.
So over the next 10 years, Coach Parker wrote it.
Through trial and error (primarily error) and the lessons learned along the way, Coach Parker was able to zero in on the principles, values, and leadership lessons that were most successful for his program. Rather than just talking about them, he started intentionally implementing these leadership lessons in practice. The more he invested in teaching student leadership, the stronger his teams became.
What happened next
In the time since, he and his coaching staff didn’t just build the boys wrestling program from scratch.
They also created the world’s largest all-female wrestling program.
5 Kansas state championships
won between the two programs.
2021
The first program in the history of the United States to win both a boys and girls state wrestling championship in the same season.
No secret plays. No superstar recruits.
This dramatic turnaround was not due to recruiting, having exceptional athletes, or having a decided schematic advantage. It was because the team was built around relationship-driven principles and an investment in student leadership.
Leadership, as he defines it, is “selflessly taking others from where they are to where they need to be.”
The Pillars taught within are the 8 leadership principles that he finds most important and effective for teaching students not just how to be exceptional at their sport, activity, or craft, but how to bring their teammates along with them. See all 8 Pillars on the Program Outline.
Over the years, Coach Parker compiled these lessons into keynote presentations that he presented during professional speaking engagements to businesses, associations, and corporations. In 2024, he distilled this content down into “Parker’s 8 Pillars of Leadership” and created 8 corresponding lessons entitled The Leadership Academy.
Coach Parker then ran two pilot sessions with this program. One was open to the team captains of all activities at Washburn Rural, as well as all coaches and administrators. The second was an in-depth cohort with his women’s wrestling team. After much fine-tuning, the program is now ready to spread across Shawnee County.
Every activity. One culture.
Why this program exists
In his work with The Jones Project, Coach Parker has had the opportunity to develop relationships with countless students, many of them struggling with their mental health. Often, those students cite a lack of a sense of community and a lack of belonging as a main contributor to their mental health struggles. Since community, belonging, and team culture were paramount to the success of his programs, this is something The Jones Project can share, in person, with the greater Shawnee County area.
Students who graduate from this program will take these lessons back to their own school communities. They will not only learn leadership skills that will last a lifetime, they will also be active contributors to the culture and climate in their home school location.
If you or someone you know would be a good fit for the program, apply today!