Greg Hohn, a professor in UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and a Carolina alumnus, has always enjoyed when he has student-athletes in his class. In fact, he compares them to military veterans.
“Aside from their experience, which is interesting, they are more likely just to do and then ask questions later,” he tells Chapelboro.
It’s why for years now, Hohn has maintained a partnership with one of the most successful athletic programs in Chapel Hill: the UNC women’s lacrosse team and head coach Jenny Levy. Levy and the Tar Heels are the reigning national champions and have lost just one game in the last three seasons. But entering a year full of new faces in new places, Levy turned to Hohn for some team-building.
Hohn is not just a professor; he’s also an experienced actor who works in the world of improv comedy. And he’s practiced improv with the women’s lacrosse teams three times now: 2015, 2018, and this year.
Greg Hohn has taught at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School since 2000. (Image via UNC)
For Hohn, the partnership between improv and athletics, though perhaps an unexpected one at first, seems like a natural fit now.
“The principles and techniques apply as much to sports as they do to anything else,” he says. “So much of it is about being aware of your body and aware of others and having the right mindset. So I was like, ‘Great! This is a wonderful opportunity, and it’s stimulating and fun for me.’ And it seemed to be useful for them. A win-win, all around.”
Hohn loves sports analogies. When directing his improv group, he often implores his peers to “look for an easy basket.”
“What that relates to in terms of improv, is let’s take it step by step,” Hohn says. “Instead of one person going out there and trying to make the scene happen… take your time, trust your teammates, trust the process, and you will get to the desired result. To me, that’s as true on an athletic field as it is on a theatrical stage.”
Thus, the unorthodox partnership flourished. And while Hohn’s improv exercises and sessions may have been primarily for the players, the 20-plus-year veteran of improv says he sees some of the art form’s foundations in Levy.
“I think she has an improv perspective when it comes to coaching,” he says. “She talks about adapting her style to her team, and adapting the game to what she’s got. And that’s something near and dear to my heart. I’ve been running an improv company since 1996, and so much of what we are able to do on-stage depends on who we have.”
What the Tar Heels will have is at least six new starters for their opening regular-season game against No. 12 James Madison on February 11, and a roster featuring 19 freshmen and sophomores. But if Carolina is somewhat lacking in experience, Levy says Hohn’s exercises showed the roster is packed with enthusiasm — and newfound confidence.
“One of the things we like to recruit is energy,” Levy tells Chapelboro. “We don’t like to ever have to coach energy. Our teams always are pretty spirited. But with young guys, developing confidence and not [being] embarrassed to make a mistake or contribute to a conversation, improv teaches a lot of that; the idea that not everyone is paying as much attention to you as you think they are.”
“They’re a very lively bunch,” Hohn says of the team. “They’re really smart. I remember asking them, ‘What’s the relevance of this?’ And somebody lays out this train of logic that is as good as anything I could come up with… they were wonderful to work with.”
Some of Hohn’s exercises with the team included a mirroring game, in which participants follow the actions of a leader. Though Hohn only worked with the team for a few sessions, and thus didn’t get to do full-on scenework, preseason first-team All-America defender Emily Nalls says she still learned some important lessons.
“A couple of things we’re getting out of that is just to have a lot of awareness of what we’re actually doing,” Nalls tells Chapelboro, “not what our intentions are. And just positive self-talk, that kind of thing.”
And while it may be hard to believe, Hohn says some of the student-athletes, elite on the field of play, still had to be brought out of their shell during improv time.
“Some of them are self-conscious, because I guess people see them as jocks or something like that,” he says. “I see them as working harder than just about anybody else in the whole school. Because they’re not only doing the academic work, but then they have very demanding practice, travel, game schedules. Those are some hard-working people.”
The start of a new season unfortunately means Hohn won’t be able to meet with the team again on a regular basis, but he says as long as the lessons he instilled stick around through the spring and summer, he’ll be satisfied.
“They could’ve brought in a tap dancer or a juggler,” Hohn says, “anybody who has this ability to give you something that you can refer back to. So I know Coach Levy is going to say something like, ‘Remember that?’ to focus people. Or maybe one of the captains will bring that up.
“And that’s kind of the point of this work that seems a little aside from the main goal. It’s almost like you create this group mythology. And you can refer back to a story from your mythology and say, ‘Yeah, we did this thing.’”
Creating new mythology? That sounds pretty deep after just a handful of improv sessions. Or maybe it’s indicative of a potential change in Hohn’s job title.
“I think they’re describing what I’m doing as sports psychology,” he says. “It really tickles me. I love the sound of that. I always wanted to be a psychologist. And a sports psychologist? Doubly good.”
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati
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