HONORS REVIEW - INTRODUCTION

by Jakob Kunert

The primiary function of the Honors Review is to give the reader – You- an comprehensive overview of some of the projects I – Jakob Kunert
inisiated or participated in. The review shall highligh what I did and How I acted in certain ways. Moreover, the review adresses the Why by
reflection and short insights, mainly focused on my professional development, goals and future perspectives.

I will briefly introduce you to the initial situation and my main learning goals for my first Honors-Project . It is an imparative to consider these ´
information to understand the bigger picutre I am painting in my mind.

Rembemer: “The whole is more than the sum of its parts.” – Aristotel

Over the duration of approximately six month I helped EABN to develop its foundation. During that time, I gained lot of practical experience that
positively contribute to the development of my skills-set and mindset. The following chapters will give you an insight into some of my bigger projects,
which are all interconnected and eventually contribute to the goal to challenge my current state of intellect and perceptions.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Honors Review - Introduction............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 1

Goals and Perspectives ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2

EABN Logo ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3

Website .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4

Leadership Networking Seminar ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Summer Camp ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

PerfORmance evaluation ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 12

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GOALS AND PERSPECTIVES
As a Sport-Honors-Student it is my main concern to develop my abilities
and skill-set to the level of an “excellent Sports professional”.
Obliviously, each professional has individual characteristics and expertise.
The criteria in the profile of an excellent sports professional, however,
gives an objective guideline to develop general and induvial expertise
accordingly. In that sense, I personally acknowledge the profile as
baseline of any work-related concerns.
Jakob Kunert, 2017
Let us have a look at my academic goals:
In line with the profile is choose leadership & entrepreneurship as fields I
want to acquire an in-depth understanding of mechanism and methods. As
a future sport & health professional I recognise these to field as essential to
master in order to accomplish my ultimate professional goal; to create my
own occupation. I see leadership & entrepreneurship as my bow and sport
& health as the arrow to tackle major challenges of our modern world.
Even though I would like to dive deep into a philosophical discourse to get
to the bottom; to the Why, it is about time to get to the core.
Hot Topic
Creativity is greatly attitudinal, as Thomas Edison recognized
when he referred to his inventions as 99% perspiration and 1%
inspiration. Being gifted is hard work! (Explorations in
Giftedness)
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EABN LOGO

A creative a challenging task I set myself was the design of a suitable logo for EABN. It was not expected or asked, but as an
excellent professional you seize the chance for improvement without the need to be asked. As my knowledge on logo-design
was limited I first had to research, to advance the idea I had in mind. Figure 3 showcase the first draft of the logo. Considering
that I am still not a designer I asked about thirty random people about their opinion. Based on the feedback I stepped into the
phase of development. As a result, I came up with different variations, which are portrait in figure 4. I repeated the feedback
process with the result that logo design you can see in figure 2 was preferred by a great majority. For the final step, for the
digitalisation I asked for help of a design student I recognized during the feedback phase.

Figure 1 - EABN Logo

Idea Research Action Feedback Development Feedback Finalisation

Figure 2 - Logo creating process

Figure 4- EABN Logo variations

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 Where I exceled in:

- Communication
- Design-thinking
- Using feedback to excel
Time spend in logo design: 13hours total - To use my creative capacities
Research: 2hours Finalisation: 3hours - To use my network
Action: 3hours Feedback: 1hour
- Recognizing others potential
Feedback: 1hours Development: 3hours
Figure 3 - First logo design in process - Entrepreneurial thinking

WEBSITE
Another job I really enjoyed was the design of a website for EABN. Again, I am not an expert, but I have a Time invested in the
creative mind and the necessary determination to obtain the required knowledge and skills. So that in a website:
first step, the research, a body of knowledge was gained. I read a book about design thinking, and
The total amount of hours
compared various existing websites relating to our business to identify a professional standard to orientate
I spend is approximately
and work on. Afterwards I made my mind up about how the website shall look like and developed a first
40hours.
prototype. The content is partly my words, but a great part has been written by the rest of the EABN team
according to the topics I set. To get an idea how other people like the website I seeked for feedback by
Research: 5 hours
asking random people. During that process, I got to know two persons who have expert knowledge on
Design thinking: 10 hours
either designing or editing, with their help I proceeded. After finishing the website, a final feedback round
Feedback: 1hour
was taken and last adjustments were taken.
Action: 10hours
What I realised, however, is that there is no end to the development of a website. To keep it up to date
Feedback: 1hour
one always must seek for improvement to stay competitive. Especially, in our modern age the online
Development: 10hours
visibility is crucial for any business to brand a public image.
Updating: 2hours

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 Research
Where I exceled in:

- Self-directed learning, obtain knowledge of an Design

Development
unknown field in short time thinking
- Communication, Asking for Feedback (active
listening)
- Networking, as I made and used different
connections
- Team work, as we worked in a Team
Feedback Feedback
- Leadership; in form of leading the process
- Identifying other people’s abilities and integrating
Action
them in the process

Figure 5 - Website design cycle

Here is the result: https://www.eabasketballnetwork.com/

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LEADERSHIP NETWORKING SEMINAR
The next experience I do not want to miss is the “Identity Leadership Seminar” that I attended thanks to Mr.
Henderson. The event took place in Amsterdam at the 23rd of June 2017. Besides the different speakers who
gave insights on leadership and identity, the networking part was a highlight to me. Mr. Henderson gave us
some tips and background knowledge on networking, which gave me and my college the chance to have an
analytic view on the happenings. That day I experienced the impact a good network can have on your
professional life and I realised the importance of asking the right question, of active listening and essential
function of goals. I learned that being present is curial to play the networking game on a high level.

Where I exceled in:

This seminar fostered my critical thinking.
It helped me reflecting on my knowledge,
network and perception towards life.

The amount of time I spent with this seminar is comparatively

small, but impact full. Including the traveling to Amsterdam I
invested a day, even though the core event only occupied
about 4-5 hours.

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 SUMMER CAMP
Introduction
The EABN (European-American-Basketball-Network) Summer Camp 2017 is the first realized project by the young business. The camp took place in Almelo,
Netherlands and served as pre-season preparation for ambitious youth basketball players. Over the duration of 3 weeks, excluding the weekends, 4 coaches and 2
additional volunteers created the right environment for athletes to thrive in. The group of 6-12 players had to go through a tough program, which is explained in
detail in the chapter “Organization.” Based on expertise knowledge from different fields (Basketball, Conditioning & various other sports influences) the program
was not only designed to enhance Basketball-skills, such as, handling, shooting, plays and games, but also to bring the athletes physical (Basic Strengths) and mental
conditions to the state required to keep up with international competition. In line with the company’s objective to develop future professional player’s, individual
assessments and position specific coaching introduced the players to the “science” behind the game. Athletes who participated in the EABN Summer camp did not
only had a good time; they also head into the new season with higher physical and mental standards.

Matchday - Emmen Eagles vs. Hegelo

On Saturday the 2nd of September 2017, EABN organized a friendly game against a regional team
(Hegelo). The aim of the game was to try out different combinations and to determine who is going
to play in the starting five of for the Team “Emmen Egeals.” Afterwards, the athletes and their
families came over to the EABN HQ, where we presented the player's progress, and the team's
future plans, such as tournaments and the further cooperation of the team with EABN. The families
and players complimented our work so that EABN is considering the first camp to be a success.

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 Organization

The EABN Summer Camp took place from the 14.08- 02.09. 2017. The program overview for the first week exemplifies the program of the Summer
Camp. Besides small adjustments and additional activities, such as In-door soccer & trampoline or swimming.

EABN Summer camp program overview

Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

8.00 – 9.00 Drive to Emmen Breakfast Breakfast Breakfast Breakfast
9:00 - 10.45 Meeting in Yoga Yoga Yoga Yoga
Emmen –
Picking up the
athletes
11.00-13.15 Conditioning Conditioning Conditioning Conditioning Swimming
13.30-14.15 Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch
14.30-17.00 Shooting+Plays Shooting+Plays Shooting+Plays Shooting+Plays Shooting+Plays
17.45-18.45 Skills Skills Skills Skills Skills
18.30-19.30 Dinner Dinner Dinner Dinner Dinner
19.30 - Free time Free time Free time Free time Free time
/Movie /Movie /Movie /Movie /Movie

Figure 2 - Flyer EABN Summer Camp by Jakob

Kunert

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 Working Hours
Due to different factors, the number of hours I have been working is hard to determine. Besides the obvious hours, I was
working (Yoga and Conditioning), I also assist in the basketball practices, supervised the athletes and helped out with
different organizational issues, like cleaning and looking after my colleges. An average working day began at 9.00 and
ended around 21.00. Thus, having worked from Monday to Thursday (4days a week) an amount of 40 hours per week and
a total amount of 120 hours is reasonable to charge. Adding the final Saturday (11.30-19.30 o´clock), I spent about
128hours with the “EABN Summer Camp 2017”.

Basketball
EABN´s Coaching Approach IQ
The model on the right shows the main features of EABN`s approach to develop Skill- Conditioning
future top athletes. Since EABN believes in individual development as the most Training
effective method to shape an athlete, we strongly value the exchange with the
players. We want our clients to become more reflective and aware of the fact
that professional sport is more than passion and practice. Considering the age
Individual The Mental
group, we are working with (14-18 years), it is about time to introduce the
athletes to the mental aspect of sports.
assesment Athlete Coaching

EABN Summer Camp 2017 – Concept for Athlete development

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 The game related systems play an important role in fostering the Basketball IQ of everyone. After being
taught strong foundations in the early youth, the players face a new level of complexity, which is
essential to master. By dedicating an extra practice for Skill-Training each day, we ensure that EABN
Athletes further develop their handlings. A great player has the eyes on the court, not on the ball. Thus,
it is imperative to have a certain skill-set in order to run game related systems efficient. Besides the
already shown competitive advantages, EABN athletes excel in physical aspects. By loosening inefficient
movement patterns, fixing wrong postures and strengthening in holistic a way, the players become
more athletic and less predictable for the opponent. This is what makes the conditioning a curial part of
EABN´s Coaching approach.

However, in the end, it all comes down to the individuum. Each athlete is unique, with special talents
and deficiencies and that is why EABN´s concept is so effective. Assessing and coaching the players
by the given model, weaknesses and strength can be identified and addressed easily. As mentioned
before, to EABN the player’s well-being and progress are main concerns. In case of the camp, the
coaching team takes time to evaluate the athlete’s performance and future in individual interviews.

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 Where I exceled in: Conclusion:
My time with EABN was life changing. I learned a lot about myself and others.
- Shared knoweledge
In the past, I sometimes got frustrated because people would not see connections
- Motivating others
where I draw lines. Many times, it ended up in me being restless and impatient.
- Gained professional experience
However, thanks to new experiences (not only EABN related) I matured and as a
- Work on my own iniatetive
result I became patient and more secure.
- Leadership & Teamwork
- Creating the right environment for others Before I started the project, I knew that I have leadership skills, but I was not sure
to show their qualities about my personal approach. Now I am certain that the sum of my strengths,
- Empathy weaknesses, skills, traits, attitude, actions, believes and values make a natural leader.
- Organisational matters On the left side, I portrait my some of my strengths that shape my approach to
- Being a role model leadership (If you want to what these terms mean check out:
Problem
- Group coaching solver http://www.high5test.com/test/main-test-result/NTIzNjg=/ )

Self-beliver Commander

Leadership

Philomath Brainstormer

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Jakob Kunert, 2017
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
This chapter shall contribute to a more objective way of
looking at my performance. I actually hoped-for feedback from
my supervisor. However, the person was not able to give
feedback. So that I decided to use the feedback from a group
work. As I am constantly performing in the same manner I
think it is decent replacement.
Considering that the group I received the feedback from
consist of Honors students I think it is remarkable that I am
consequently being identified as a leading organ, just by being
myself..The critics about temporary glitches of body language
and enthusiasm are reasonable. The same counts for my direct
way of communicating. I appreciate the honest and
constructive feedback, as one need it to develop. I am
personally honoured and really happy that people
acknowledge the effort I put in Teamwork
Michiel:
Jakob is a steady and trustworthy group member. He is focused on delivering
high results. He does not force this other, but he does it in a way that inspires
others.
Within this project, he is very dedicated and even does more than asked of him.
Although we have not chosen someone to be a leader as we are all strong
individuals with our own opinions, Jakob does stick out as he is always well
organized and prepared.
Although struggling at the beginning with his position in the group and opinion
on certain matters he has definitely made progress in a positive aspect, by
stepping back a bit into a position that he feels fine in and others as well.
However, try to be less direct as others might close up as a result of this. As you
are an open-minded person, it would be a shame people around you close up
and not express their opinion and visions anymore.

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what

you really are.”

― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

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 Leonie:
You are probably the only one in the group being really into
the topic, and you show broad knowledge about content
and working methods. I really like how you contribute to a
nice climate with your respectful way of communicating
and patience to the rest of us.
Remco:
You are definitely a born leader. There’s something about
you that makes you seem like you are always sure about
what you want or what needs to be done. This creates a
form of stability for me, someone to fall back to, which
helps me do my own work better. Next, to that you always
do you work (and sometimes even extra).
Jakob Kunert, 2017
Fabio:
A very solid, leading role within our group. I appreciate your focus, your ambitiousness and
the willingness to take up extra work. This approach of “whoever has capacities can
furthermore do step x already” shows that when taking the lead you think ahead and
respect everyone’s speed and amount of commitment (time-wise). You are definitely the
role of the well functioning group that is focused on our outcomes but always considers
the possible paths to get there, by using our team's capacities in the most efficient way.
When sitting together as a group, I would like you to get inspired by for example Janis or
Mike and express a more enthusiastic, more positive body language. Although I know that
you are focused on these moments, I would like you to challenge yourself to keep the focus
and be more positive in your tone of voice and way of acting in our meetings. I am certain;
this will allow our group work to be even more enjoyable and sustainable as we will be
working together for quite some time now.
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