BATON ROUGE — LSU baseball players Clay Dirks and Jordan Faircloth spoke to fifth grade students at Buchanan Elementary on Tuesday morning as part of the Shaquille O’Neal CHAMPS/Life Skills program.
In speaking to the physical education class, Faircloth referenced the movie “Hoosiers” while discussing the importance of teamwork. In the movie, the small town’s new coach required the team to pass the ball three times to teammates before shooting. The players thought the rule was stupid, but in the end found it was one of the keys to the success of their team. The team believed everyone was equal and that each player could contribute to the success of winning a state championship.
“If I want to achieve my goal, I need to work hard,” said Faircloth. ” You need to always keep setting goals in sports and in school. And when you get knocked down, you get back up again.”
Faircloth, a senior pitcher for the Tigers, threw 56.1 innings last season with four saves. The solid relief pitcher from Alexandria, La., also posted a 2.40 ERA and 40 strikeouts.
Dirks spoke about the acronym for TEAM – Together Everyone Achieves More”. He reiterated that there is no “I” in the word team. In addition, he discussed the flying V patter of Canadian geese. He told them that it is a little known fact is that when the geese fly in a V together, they actually fly faster than flying alone.
He told them that talent can only take you so far. “Those who work hard have success,” he said. He then asked the students, “Do you want to be just average?”
A sophomore pitcher for the Tigers, Dirks was named a 2004 Freshman All-American by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. A native of Hernando, Miss., he led the LSU starting rotation with a 3.43 ERA and he ranked second in strikeouts with 66.
The CHAMPS (Challenging Athletes Minds for Personal Success)/Life Skills Program was designed by the NCAA to help student-athletes realize higher academic achievement, increase likelihood of graduation and enter a chosen profession with a higher level of vision, knowledge, motivation, self-responsibility and greater overall success. In Spring 2003, the CHAMPS/Life Skills Program honored one of LSU’s most memorable graduates, Shaquille O’Neal, by naming the program after him.