Tylo Blackburn wasn’t looking for an invitation to travel abroad, but one found him.
And his unexpected ticket to Belize with Alternative Spring BAE provided more than his first journey outside the United States.
“I’m a very shy and reserved person right away. It takes me a couple minutes or even longer to observe a situation and see what’s going on,” says Blackburn, a junior Sport Management major from Twin Lakes, Wisconsin.
“But the people in Belize are not like that and definitely got me to open up very quickly. They are very personable, and those personal connections and relationships are very valuable to them,” he adds.
“Probably the biggest thing I learned was to be a little more open and that those human connections are important to what we do, no matter what industry you’re in or your education. Sometimes it’s more of who you know and not what you know.”
March’s spring break trip with Jenn Jacobs, associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KNPE), and Project FLEX graduate students Timothy Mahoney, Joey Mwachullah and Huntleigh Wozniak delivered on both of those fronts, however.
Collaborating with longtime partners Kaya Cattouse and the National Sports Council, the NIU contingent delivered two days of training to 20 sports coordinators from throughout the country.
Session topics include boxing, successful operation of tournaments, team dynamics and the components of effective practice.
“We really focused it around being able to plan tournaments because that’s been a focal point of their sport culture post-COVID,” Jacobs says. “Basically, they’re trying to get back to normalcy and get kids re-engaged in sport after two pretty intense years. There were several months at a time where they were on lockdown. They could not even leave their houses except between 5 and 6 a.m. for an hour of exercise.”
NIU’s trainers, in turn, learned about themselves.
“Huntleigh, who’s one of our best leaders, who really can get thrown into any situation, whether working with incarcerated youth or presenting in front of a classroom – I actually saw her get nervous and get excited to teach content she knows like the back of her hand. She had to figure out how to make it meaningful to people from a different culture,” Jacobs says.
Doing so “is just a new challenge for the students to overcome and succeed at. It brings them home with this confidence about who they are, what they’re passionate about in their careers, and how they have the ability to make that meaningful to different people,” she adds.
“Everybody knows that our world is not predictable anymore, and that if you’re going to be in a career working with people, you’re going to get such a diversity of needs and wants from clients or students or groups that you’re working with. I personally think that’s what sets our students apart when they have these really unique and rare experiences on their résumés.”
“The time we spent in Belize was genuinely transformative, and I feel like a different person now than I did before the trip. I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to travel to a country like Belize. I am so thankful for the chance to learn about its culture, history, and people while gaining experience in sport psychology as an aspiring young professional. The biggest takeaway from my time down in Belize is to slow down and focus on relationships above all else. Being immersed in a new culture and surrounded by people different from me was an eye-opening experience. It allowed me to see the world differently and appreciate our planet’s diversity through all the relationships I created. My conversations with the members of the NSC and locals were thought-provoking. They challenged me to think deeply about my beliefs and values, which I have brought back to the states. Trips like this are crucial for college students because they allow us to leave our comfort zones and experience things we would not otherwise have while challenging our worldviews.” — Tim Mahoney
JACOBS INTENTIONALLY CHOOSES Belize as the spring break destination.
“Frankly, there is something just magical about it – the way they welcome people into the culture with no restrictions, no conditions, right off the bat,” Jacobs says.
“Belize provides this very safe space for students to be completely out of their comfort zone, which sounds like an oxymoron – ‘safe’ and ‘completely out of a comfort zone’ – but I think it’s a powerful setting for students to be shellshocked by a different culture and around people who are so caring and relational and excited about what we have to offer,” she adds. “It’s almost like the perfect balance.”
The professor even found herself caught off guard.
“Completely impromptu, I got the chance to give a sport psychology session to a semi-pro, adult male soccer team,” she says.
“I literally walked out onto the field, met the coach and he said, ‘Hey, can you do a session with my athletes right now?’ I said, ‘Oh, I’d love to, so call them to the sidelines.’ I had about two minutes to think about something that would usually take me a week or so to prepare and feel confident about.”
Her surprises would continue.
“On this team of people I’d never met before, I’d actually crossed paths with one of them in a training in prior years, and he said, ‘Oh, I remember when I went to your training a couple years ago,’ and then other players had heard about the work that NIU does,” Jacobs says.
“It’s fun to be recognized, but I also understand that the work that we’re doing – that NIU is doing – is actually making a deep impact that’s being sustained,” she adds. “That’s what all these types of sport-for-development programs want to do but have a hard time achieving just because the feasibility is so challenging.”
This trip also reunited Jacobs with Emma Baumert, who was a senior Kinesiology major on the maiden voyage of Alternative Spring BAE in 2019.
Baumert, now an assistant professor of Exercise Science at Multnomah University in Portland, Oregon, met the current Huskies and embodied for the students a vision of their potential futures through the mentorship of Jacobs.
Naturally, Jacobs can see that in them already.
“I look for students who feel like, to me, are just on the cusp of a mind-blowing development in their growth,” she says.
“I look for students who have a devotion to NIU in some way; I think that’s really important. I want to build a team mindset with the group we go down there with because we could be in some tough situations, or we might have to exercise some perseverance. I want to be with students I can trust. I want to be with students who are willing to try new things.”
Her interviews with prospective travelers set the stage.
“One of my famous interview questions that I ask prospective travelers involves oranges on the table. I hand them an orange and say, ‘Teach me how to peel this,’ ” Jacobs says.
“They look at me like I’m crazy, but I’m like, ‘I don’t want to ask you what your strengths and weaknesses are. I want to see you in action, trying something new and uncomfortable, and see how you respond,’ ” she adds. “It’s less about how well they teach me to peel the orange and more about how they address an unpredictable, challenging situation. It seems to work pretty well.”
“Something that I’ve struggled with in the past was public speaking and, in our past trip,
I gained a level of confidence that I am grateful Belize helped tap. I think a big factor is the people. Belizeans make you feel at home, and are some of the most genuine humans I have ever met.
Also, since it was my second time being there, seeing familiar faces and old friends helped make me feel more comfortable and confident in my abilities. Being a part of this team is a blessing, the love and support we all have for each other just makes things 10 times easier. I’m especially grateful for Dr. Jacobs and the team for allowing me to be apart and experience something so special again. Going into the 2023 trip to Belize I was extremely excited to return, because last time I came back with new skills and it overall changed my life. This past trip, I feel like I found myself even more.
I found new leadership skills and qualities that I didn’t know that I had, along with
an added level of confidence.” — Joey Mwachullah
FOR BLACKBURN, A POST-TRADITIONAL student who spent nine years in the workforce before coming to NIU, the feasibility began when he delivered an undergraduate research presentation last semester to a group of department chairs that included KNPE’s Steve Howell.
When Jacobs later polled her colleagues for names of students who might thrive on the Belize trip, Howell remembered and recommended Blackburn.
The timing proved opportune.
Blackburn, whose parents were both multi-sport athletes in their youth, and who also played several sports growing up, thought about majoring in kinesiology but ultimately chose sport management because he liked its business properties.
Yet with his three minors in Esports Industry Professions, Psychosocial Aspects of Sport and Physical Activity and Sport for Development and Social Change, and in his interactions with KNPE faculty, Blackburn was growing more interested in “the emotional and psychological aspect” of sport.
Visiting Belize demonstrated that he could “really take control of the situation myself” while setting aside his quiet, introverted nature in the process.
“I go for runs and walks and jogs all the time, and they were worried – especially at night – but I was like, ‘I don’t know. I just feel safe here.’ For being in a completely different country, especially one that we had to fly over water to get to, I just felt really at home,” Blackburn says.
“I interacted with locals. We played pickup basketball games, pickup softball games. I went ziplining, and I’m super afraid of heights. I dove in the ocean, and I can’t really swim, and even though there are jellyfish right there, I pet sharks and stingrays,” he adds. “It was a lot of things that normally I wouldn’t do, but it just felt like I was at home there and welcome, and I just really opened up and came out of my shell.”
Now, with plans to visit Tanzania this August with Engage Global, Blackburn’s eyes are also wide open.
He can envision himself working in sport psychology in developing nations, he says, and if not, with organizations closer to home or outside of sport altogether.
“I could actually use sport psychology for, arguably, a greater good – whether it’s within the United States or another country or program,” Blackburn says. “I spoke to somebody from the Peace Corps in Belize who I’ve been exchanging emails with, and that’s just showing me a new path.”
“Throughout my time in Belize, my eyes were opened to the differences in culture and experiences, and how we so differently live our lives here in the states. We focus so much on what we do not have, how fast we can go and how packed we can make our daily schedules. In Belize, I was taught how to slow down, appreciate what is right there in front of you, and show gratitude for everything I do have. I met with coaches who have so little for their athletes, but that never lets them stop offering as much program as they can go as much youth as possible. It’s inspiring. To be able to have shared so much knowledge with people who can make the best out of the worst, is so much more powerful than reading a textbook or hearing from a professor how to do more with less. Trips like this offer students the ability to learn in the real world. Without opportunities to spread our wings and apply our knowledge in other realms, how can we ever know if we are creating the right paths for ourselves.” — Huntleigh Wozniak
