Cooper says he still maintains close contact with some of the staff. Greeting the freshman members of all the athletic teams before classes begin in the fall, the staff explains SSA services and encourages the new student-athletes to attend the freshman seminar, offered jointly with the College of Health and Nursing Sciences. This may be the only contact the student has with the program, but while at the University, the program remains available to the student- athlete at any time. Academic progress is monitored by SSA counselors in a cooperative effort with the coaches. Assigned to specific teams, each counselor becomes familiar with the special atmosphere that is created within each team as the students spend time together and develop as a team family.
Some teams are small and have a tradition of being very supportive of each other.
However, the dynamics within a team can change from year to year. Many student-athletes, who may have been stars in high school, need help adjusting to being a minor player at a university. It is a major self-esteem issue. Student-athletes are encouraged to develop other aspects of their identities because they may not start or even play in games during their freshman year at the University. Progress reports, self-reports and reports from coaches are used to track each athlete's academic progress.