All good teams have good leaders.

It doesn't matter the sport.

So when the Auburn wrestling team drew up their own personal mission statement, it's no surprise that leadership was at the top of their list.

“The team put together a list of their missions,” Maroons coach John Alberici said. “They did it all on their own. Neither I, nor assistant coach Andy Corbett helped them.”

To help attain this goal, the team has been meeting with LEAD USA over the past few weeks. LEAD USA is a program that's developed to evaluate and develop leaders of the future.

During Monday's meeting with the Auburn wrestling team, LEAD USA's Joe Casamento stressed the importance of positive attitude and the importance of self-awareness.

“Leadership of others begins with leadership of self.” Casamento said.

Casamento was joined by mentors Carol Ramsden and Gary Ford. Each focused on different topics and worked different programs into the Leadership USA program.

The wrestlers were able to voice their opinions on topics and get involved in activities such as a character quiz and a world greatest leader activity. Each of the groups of six discussed the characteristics that were demonstrated by themselves or others, that they believe constitute a good leader.

“This is about you and your character.” Casamento said.

Ford proposed a challenge to the wrestlers - find out what kind of leader they are individually. They started off by listing five animals in which they then had to organize in order of preference. Each animal represented something and that showed what was most important in their lives or better yet a symbol to them.

“Take an inward look into yourself.” Ford said.

Then Ford had the kids take part in a character quiz that had the kids particularly intrigued. They had to answer six questions and then after they shared their answers if they wanted too. Ford also explained how they had to seek what inspires them.

One of the questions was “Who would you want to meet, living and dead, and what would you ask them?”

Some of the wrestlers picked celebrities, while others said family members that had passed away or lived prior to them..

“What you look at is important to your character.” Ford said.

With the positive feedback from the wrestlers, Alberici said he and Casamento have to discuss when the groups can get together again.

Whether these sessions result in a better record for the wrestling team is irrelevant.

The knowledge they accrue will help them in every area of their life.

For Alberici and the Auburn wrestling team, it's about more than what takes place on the mats.