ALPHA program challenges Huskies to become leaders

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Peterson, pack leaders see benefits on, off the field

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  • Captains chosen for the Huskies’ first-year ALPHA program include, front from left: Garrett Bellis, Drew Knust, Britton Kemling, Wade Ohlson. Back from left: Kellen Peterson, Jack Allen, Carsen Staehr, Carlos Collazo.
    Captains chosen for the Huskies’ first-year ALPHA program include, front from left: Garrett Bellis, Drew Knust, Britton Kemling, Wade Ohlson. Back from left: Kellen Peterson, Jack Allen, Carsen Staehr, Carlos Collazo.
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Calling eight young men on the Aurora football team alpha dogs, or leaders of the pack, isn’t just a metaphor.
It’s a title, in fact a badge of honor, earned as part of a new leadership development program Coach Kyle Peterson said has exceeded his expectations in its debut year.
Since Aurora is well known for its Husky mascot, the title of the program was an easy choice, the head Husky explained. ALPHA -- an acronym which stands for Attitude, Loyalty, Physicality, Honor and Accountability -- fit with the concept he wanted to introduce. Deciding who would be chosen as pack leaders and what they would be asked to do was more complicated.
“We’ve always had some elected leaders from every class and kind of a leadership council,” Peterson said, recalling former coach Randy Huebert’s use of a unity council. “In some cases we used them as a sounding board between the coaches and the team, but we wanted to focus on relationship development and leadership development. That was really kind of the purpose of this program.”

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