ELEVATE is a year-long leadership development program for high school student-athletes, founded by Kevin Weaver. It combines recurring leadership sessions, individual Two Laps walking conversations, a spring Leadership Summit, and ongoing support between sessions to help captains and student leaders build accountability, communication, and self-leadership skills — supplementing what coaching staffs are already doing, not replacing it.
Leadership in layers, all year long
ELEVATE is built around clarity, consistency, and relationships — developing leadership from the individual athlete outward to the team, the coaches, and the school culture.
The gap ELEVATE fills
Coaches expect player-leadership, but closing that gap as a head coach is hard. There are only so many hours in the day. Good intentions in the preseason get swallowed by logistics — schedules, equipment, fundraising — before the first practice even starts. The same problem plays out everywhere: captains who were never taught what leadership actually looks like. Players who want to lead but have never been shown how. Teams with real talent and no internal accountability, so the culture shifts depending on who shows up that day.
ELEVATE supplements what the coaching staff is already doing. Sometimes an outside set of eyes sees what the staff cannot. The program is not built on inspiration. It is built on repetition, honesty, and the belief that the best athletes and the right leaders are not always the same person — until you develop them.
One developmental pathway
Recurring Leadership Sessions
The backbone of the program. Consistent sessions throughout the year, with students grouped across sports to build cross-team connection. Themes include:
- What leadership actually is on a high school team
- Leading when you're not playing well — or not playing at all
- Accountability and confrontation skills
- The difference between team comfort and team growth
- Owning your role, not comparing roles
Two Laps Walks
Genuine, individual relationships built in a low-pressure, conversational environment — first lap light, second lap deeper. Students talk more honestly while walking, and the walks give ELEVATE the insight that fuels better leadership instruction.
Leadership Summit
The spring capstone — a culminating experience where everything learned during the year is reinforced and expanded. Keynote speakers with strong leadership backgrounds, breakout group sessions, cross-school interaction, and opportunities for student leaders to present, reflect, and challenge one another.
Support Between Sessions
ELEVATE is not a program that disappears between meetings. Direct communication with student leaders, leadership challenges and reflection prompts, attending games and practices to observe team dynamics, and helping captains navigate conflict when it arises — embedded in the athletic culture, not visiting it.
Bring ELEVATE to your athletes
Whether you lead a team, a department, or a district, the conversation starts the same way everything in ELEVATE does — with a real one.
Start the ConversationRhythm, structure, momentum
Consistency means students know leadership is ongoing work — not something discussed once in August. The program develops shared language across sports, gives athletes something to work toward, and builds a visible leadership presence in the school's athletic culture. Every school's rhythm is different — the structure is built around your calendar, your sports, and your students.