From Houston to Qatar: Joe Toler's Journey in International Education

0:00 Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire. Today, we're going to be talking about international athletics, as I am joined by Athletic Director of the International School of London and Qatar, Joe Toler. I went to school with Joe, so I know Joe pretty good. Joe has over two decades of experience in education and athletics. He's leading the way, trying to get some things started at the International School of London and going and let the world know about it.

0:41 So we want to do that and let you guys hear about it. And he's also a dedicated member and advisor to the IAAAC. So we're going to be talking to Joe about everything that they're up to and the great things that they're doing for athletics. So, Joe, thank you so much for joining me today. Curtis, it's great to be here. Thanks so much. Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself? Oh, gosh. Well, currently, like you said, the athletic director for the International School of London. This is the middle of my second year here. We've had quite the international career so far. So since high school, man, we we've been moving around quite a bit, graduated from McNeese State University with an education degree and then started teaching in Houston for about 10 years.

1:34 That's where I met my lovely wife and then we then traveled to, decided to move internationally. So then we've gone from Korea to Russia, to Lebanon, to Uganda and Brussels and Belgium and then made our way here. So this is our sixth country in the last 12 years, or 13 years, gosh, 12 years. And um, or 13 years, gosh, and um, yeah, we, we've just lead an exciting lifestyle doing this and uh, with now a family involved as well, and um, it's been good.

2:15 And and then, um, you know, as I've grown into the role of an athletic director, there was a, there was a need at, on the international school that we started with for an athletic program, and when I first got into coaching, or first got into teaching, I got into coaching through a friend of mine and just really enjoyed it and loved every minute of it and really grew to understand how much it means to students and how much it means to the community. And then, when we moved overseas, I was actually teaching English literature and we went to this international school and it was just opening up and we saw the need for much more than that to add value and holistic education to the students' lives.

3:09 So they gave me the privilege of creating a program for them and I haven't looked back since. So I've been now an athletic director since 2012 and loved every minute of it 2012 and loved every minute of it. Yeah, it sounds like you definitely got a lot of great things going on, so tell us about the International School of London at Qatar, and tell us about your role as an athletic director? Sure, so the International School of London, qatar, is in its 15th year of existence. It has about 1,200 students, from early childhood all the way through grade 12.

3:51 My role as an incoming athletic director is not just on the athletic side of things but also on activities. So I've got three major areas that I lead, and it's athletics, activities and Week Without Walls, and so you know, athletics obviously speaks for itself. We've been able to build a program into a much formal thing. Before I got there thing. Before I got there, students were really doing a lot of work on their own and, you know, through self motivation they created these small little teams but there wouldn't be any coaches or any formal type of season that they would go with.

4:37 And then I've been able to build that program from scratch essentially, and it's really been awesome and awesome to see how the students have just grown towards it. They've embraced it and it's getting better. We still have a lot of growing to do in that area. We still have a lot of growing to do in that area. And then my second role is the activity side, where we look at all the after school activities. So essentially, as soon as the day is done. That's when I really focus on what students are interested in and some of their passions and be able to offer everything that they can explore.

5:25 So, whether it's, you know, robotics, to art, to music, to speech and debate, to MUN, to all the different programs that a school might offer, are all areas that we have had in the past but are also now just solidifying into more of a deeper program for the students. And then the Week Without Walls is a pretty large program but it's all condensed into one week and we have students that travel internationally and then also take part in various activities throughout this week in February where it's it's quite a wide array of what we offer.

6:13 So for the high school students, we're focused a lot on service learning. They go to places abroad, they go on adventures. This year we had a few trips, one to Bali and one to Geneva. We've had some middle schoolers that went skiing and went to Sri Lanka and all these different international adventures. And then those who didn't travel got to take part in quite a wide array of activities during that week where they got to pick and choose some activities that they were really interested in or areas that of of growth.

6:57 They wanted to do so. Some did mural paintings, and then we had some trips off campus. So it's these. I had this idea that learning can happen outside of the four walls of the classroom. So, um, so yeah, so I've you know. Like I said, this said, this has been my role for the last year and a half. It's been an adventure. Qatar is a beautiful country. It definitely is something to get used to. As far as the heat is concerned, it does get awfully hot, but then you have these wonderful cool months, from November really to now, where it's just a beautiful place to be.

7:42 Okay, well, definitely appreciate you and I'm sure the students definitely appreciate all that you're doing to make the world a better place. So you are a contributing member and an advisor to the IAAAC. So tell us about that role and, for those who don't know, tell them what the IAAAC is. Yeah, sure. So in this whole journey that I've been on as an athletic and activities director, one great aspect has been the IAAAC, and that's the International Association of Athletic Administrators and Coaches, and I joined in 2015,.

8:26 I want to say I was able to work with a mentor of mine whose name is Kirby Boychuk, and he was the athletic director for the international school or the Anglo-American school in Moscow, and so he created the conference, and so while we were working together, I was able to understand the vision of it, and what it is is. Essentially, it's a professional development weekend for athletic directors, but it's expanded beyond that right, so it's a conference that has been really the most impactful professional development that I've been a part of in many years, and it's where everybody gets a chance to present.

9:32 We offer opportunities to find out what those best practices are. You know what are people doing around the world that's really working for whatever international school or context, and or, you know, it doesn't even have to be an international school, but what part of their job is working. And on the other side of it, too, is we're offering these opportunities where we can just learn from each other and really have an opportunity to network and be together and, yeah, it's a super impactful weekend of professional development. It's a super impactful weekend of professional development and so we've been working with the conference now, you know, up till COVID, and then we ended up taking a break during COVID and last year we decided to reignite it, so we put the word out and it was an amazing experience.

10:37 We actually wanted it to be sort of a first time back. So the conference itself takes place in Bangkok and we get the word out and we were expecting, you know, just sort of a minimal number of those that might be interested and by the time it was said and done, we had doubled the anticipated number of attendees. And it was just a great experience and it just showed us how impactful that can be for educators and for like-minded people and for those around the world that you know need to hear from each other, need the opportunity to learn from each other and to be together and know that you know automatically whoever is there.

11:27 Those are people that you can rely on and lean on and understand your role in whatever school or context you might be in. Okay, so you know kind of talk about how you've seen your students grow with everything that you're doing. You know maybe some kind of personal development stories that stand out, you know to you because of what you guys have been implementing and doing. Yeah, it's been really great. You know, students need to find opportunities to explore their passions and that's something that I've been really grateful on being able to recognize in the after school spirit that the parents love it and appreciative of it and, you know they really everybody just enjoys having that unity, having that unity, and so that's really what I like to do and offer the students of just having these avenues for them to, you know, play sports and, again, like to fulfill their passion.

12:51 So, yeah, I find, you know, you have these small moments of where you can help someone who, whether it's an athlete, for instance, having trouble in the classroom, and we get a group of teachers together and really find ways to support them, and something that I am exploring and strongly believe in. You know, we just had some conversations about academic eligibility and whether we should hold that, you know, over our athletes that participate, and I take more of a stance of, again, this is a part of a holistic experience.

13:32 We want to help our athletes grow and learn and you know why should that be sort of a carrot that we hold over them, right? And so the philosophy that I've taken is that we eliminate that part, that it's not just a form of punishment that you know, yes, you may be struggling in the classroom, but everybody struggles every now and then in whatever they do, and so you know what would be more effective. Would it be something that you know causes a negative feeling and a negative atmosphere, or is it something that's a lot more positive, where you know you have a group of people that are there to support you, and that's everybody, from athletes to parents, to coaches, to to you know, us, the F in the athletic office, to the teachers themselves, and, and so you know I've been lucky over the years to have these moments where I have a student that comes in and just ask for help and we get our team together, we get our our I like to call them our board right, and we get our board together and we help this kid, and it's so impactful.

14:47 And sometimes you know in your teaching and educating career you don't get a lot of feedback from the students. It's just it's or it's way past the time that that you know them and sometimes they you might get a random email or random message for that thank you, or or, and it's it means the world. So yeah. Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you and your team is working on that we need to be aware of oh gosh, yeah, so the well in both capacities.

15:30 So in the IAAAC, you know we've got, you know, the upcoming conference that's happening this May. So the word is out and and you know, we, you know all the information on that is is on our website and we're looking forward to really having a good conference this year. We've got a great keynote speaker. Last year and a half we've just done so much. We've been on this huge trajectory of where you know, like I was saying earlier that you know, students were really held.

16:13 Well, we're really trying themselves to, you know, form these, you know teams and local leagues and things like that, and the last year was able to formalize that and things like that, and the last year was able to formalize that. So now we participate in a conference on the local level and I mean we're talking from grade two all the way to grade 12. And this year we've started now joining and participating in an international conference and that's huge. So a lot of our athletes, they have the opportunity to. You know, for instance, in season one we play volleyball and those volleyball teams flew to Bahrain and were able to participate in a tournament against, you know, seven other international schools.

16:56 We held our first tournament and were able to host it here for soccer and basketball with three other schools, or two other schools that are in our conference here, and then we're now getting ready to participate in another international tournament in Dubai in April, and so our projects next year, you know all, include not just growth in our program but for athletes in general, but also now adding some depth to the program. Right where we're focused on coaching development, we're focused on player development, and what are we doing then to set us apart from other international schools around the area?

17:42 So lots, lots going on. Definitely sounds like it. So you know, can people contribute? If so, how? Or, you know, just throw out any contact information you might have so people can keep up with everything that you're up to. Yeah, sure, so definitely with the Athletic Director Conference or the IAAAC. They can check out the website at i3accom. There's a lot of information on there and about past conferences as well, and then for me, if they would like to, there's contact information on there as far as um, anything regarding the conference and um, yeah, uh, I think that that would be the best way to stay in contact.

18:32 All right, we'll close this out with some final thoughts. Maybe, if that was something I forgot to talk about, that you would like to touch on, or any final thoughts you have for the listeners. No, I really appreciate it. I think you know, as athletic directors and as athletic leaders, we're really focused on providing the best for our athletes and providing the best for students to be able to grow, and you know there's a lot of professional development out there. That's really now refocusing everything on, you know, those things that will only detract from the experience that the student gets.

19:27 I think we've got a win there. If you know something I tell my coaches is you know, if those kids are walking off from the team practices with sweat on their brow and a happy face, we know that we've won that practice for that day. And if kids can leave our programs better people, better character with stronger characters, it's a win every day. Absolutely. Ladies and gentlemen, follow, rate, review, share this episode to as many people as possible. Jump on your favorite podcast app.

20:08 Check out the show, review it, share it, follow us. If you have any guests or suggestion topics, curtis Jackson 1978 at attnet is the place to send them. Thank you for listening and supporting the show and, joe, thank you for all that you and your team is doing all around the world and thank you for joining me. I appreciate it, Curtis. Thank you.