Inside Athletics: Derek Horne

OleMissSports.com's Inside Athletics is a biweekly blog by the Ole Miss athletics department's senior administrators and key personnel to offer fans added insight into the overall operation of the department.

One of the major responsibilities for an athletics department is to make sure we offer our student-athletes a well-rounded college experience. Student-athletes not only attend a university to further their athletics careers, but they attend to develop skills that will give them opportunities to have successful careers. We have a program that assists with their development. Rebel Ready is a life skills program that offers student-athletes an opportunity to excel in five key areas.

Our Rebel Ready program uses the foundation suggested by the NCAA’s CHAMPS Life Skills program. CHAMPS’ five core principles focus on enhancing a student-athlete’s collegiate experience through community service, athletic enhancement, academic excellence, personal development and career assistance.

My focus regarding our Rebel Ready program is to develop and implement programs that will get our student-athletes involved in community service, assist them with focusing on growing as a person, and prepare them for a career after they have completed their athletics pursuits. Jennifer Zimmerman serves as our Rebel Ready Coordinator. We work together to set up programs that will not only benefit our student-athletes but also our community.

One of our core concepts is service. In our community and state, our student-athletes are considered celebrities. Our goal is give them an opportunity to give back to the community and understand their responsibilities as role models. We accomplish this through activities such as reading sessions at elementary schools, visits to local covalent homes, canned food drives and service projects on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

When student-athletes are recruited, we stress the importance of an education and the opportunities a degree will afford them. Through our Rebel Ready program, we work with our University’s Career Center in efforts to assist our student-athletes with seeking gainful employment. This past year, we hosted our first Backpack to Briefcase Etiquette Dinner. Student-athletes were paired with M-Club Alumni Chapter members and/or recruiters from local business to receive career advice and give them an opportunity to develop their networking skills.

Once we have assisted our student-athletes with completing their collegiate careers, we work to encourage them to stay involved with the athletics department and the university. We work closely with Clay Cavett and the M-Club Alumni Chapter to get all former letterwinners involved with university sponsored events. Also we will continue to develop programs to encourage support and participation from former athletes that are not involved with our efforts.

If you are interested in supporting our Rebel Ready program and activities related to former Ole Miss athlete involvements, please visit OleMissSports.com/RebelReady or email me at dhorne@olemiss.edu. Your support will assist us in preparing our student-athletes for life.

Derek Horne

Ole Miss Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs

Past Articles

	12/20/2007	Inside Athletics: Lynnette Johnson
	12/05/2007	Inside Athletics: Karen Schiferl
	11/24/2007	Inside Athletics: Blake Barnes
	11/06/2007	Inside Athletics: David Wells
	10/17/2007	Inside Athletics: John Hartwell
	10/05/2007	Inside Athletics: Sans Russell
	09/24/2007	Inside Athletics: Walker Jones
	09/05/2007	Inside Athletics: George Smith
	09/05/2007	OleMissSports.com Launches Athletics Blog

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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