Motivational speaker to address Redmen about leadership

FOSTORIA — The Fostoria school district is looking for some chiefs among their high school Redmen.With that in mind, it is bringing in nationally recognized speaker Roy Hall Jr., a former football wide receiver for Ohio State and four professional teams, to address athletes in grades 9 through 12, as well as their coaches, in regard to leadership, accountability, communication and the responsibility involved in a representing and a school and community.Beginning this month, Hall and members of his Columbus-based speaking team will meet with about 150 Fostoria athletes and coaches on a quarterly basis for a year. Hopes are for an expansion of the program in the future."This initiative is about developing leaders," Fostoria Superintendent Jason Longbrake said. "We want our student-athletes to understand that leadership doesn't stop when the game ends. It carries into our hallways, classrooms and community." Hall, 42, is no stranger to Fostoria."Roy spoke to our students a couple of years ago and did an amazing job," said Courtney Fleming, human relations and public relations director for Fostoria City Schools. "I reached out to him in October to see if we could do more than just a motivational speech and turn it into quarterly workshops to keep his message at the forefront of our minds."Fleming said the district is appreciative to the local businesses and organizations that paid the entire $20,000 tab for Hall and his team to conduct the workshops. Contributing sponsors were the Mennel Milling Company, the Roppe Corporation, the Redmen Club, the Fraternal Order of Eagles 430 and the Imagine for Youth Foundation.Hall's speaking career has come on the heels of being a part of Ohio State's 2007 national runner-up squad and spending time with the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions and the United Football League's Omaha Nighthawks over a five-year span.On his website, www.royhalljr.com, Hall is quoted as saying his pro football experience paved the way to his speaking business."Playing professional football with the likes of future Hall of Fame quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, Hall of Fame Head Coach Tony Dungy, Hall of Fame General Manager Bill Polian, and an intense and competitive billionaire owner, Jim Irsay, forced me to learn how to perform during high pressure, and high stress situations," Hall is quoted as saying. " I had to learn quickly how to be a pro and do my job at a high level no matter how I felt."It wasn't easy, but after having a few conversations and communicating effectively with my aforementioned team members, I was able to consistently add value to the team. Even when I was injured, my effort along the way had built enough equity and trust that they were overly patient with my imperfections."