Clarfield, Novak Share Lessons Learned with Fellow Graduates
4/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | General, Men's Gymnastics, Women's Soccer
April 29, 2016
• Event Photos 
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Maddie Clarfield appeared in only two games as a senior on the University of Michigan women's soccer team, and she saw action as a goalkeeper in only five games over four seasons.
Yet, she was voted a captain by her teammates for her senior season.
Nolan Novak was a member of the Wolverines men's gymnastics team that won NCAA championships in 2013 and 2014.
Yet, he focused more on how losing brings the greatest lessons in his speech to his fellow Wolverines.
Based on essays they wrote, Clarfield and Novak were selected to address the gathering at Friday night's (April 29) Student-Athlete Graduation Celebration for all 31 teams at Crisler Center.
"Coming here four years ago I never thought I'd be the one speaking at graduation," said Novak, who attended Albuquerque (New Mexico) Valley High and was the 2015 NCAA runner-up on the pommel horse. "We all had a very similar experience, and I was excited about this opportunity."
Clarfield, from Malibu (California) High, said, "It's a pretty special experience. Being a Michigan student-athlete isn't easy; at times you want to quit and be a normal college student. But sticking with it for four years and getting the chance to speak on behalf of the class that stuck with it with you is pretty special. I can't imagine something better to cap off my experience here, and I'm so honored."
Both have secured jobs before their graduation, and Clarfield's position as a captain who seldom played weighed into getting her hired.
Clarfield said in her speech: "In one interview, the guy on the other side of the table couldn't understand how a girl with no relevant experience had advanced so far in the interview process for a sales and trading position.
"I explained that I was a junior who had played only 35 minutes in my career, which is less than one half of one game. I talked about how I was elected captain despite not being a starter and the role I hoped to play in that leadership position. As a captain, I was committed to representing the girls on the team who didn't start or maybe never played, and I wanted to motivate the bench to be the loudest 12th man in the Big Ten. I tried to describe what the program meant to me, even though words never end up doing it justice.
"Later that week, after convincing myself that there was no chance I was getting the job, I got a call early one morning from the man who had been on the other side of that table. He offered me the position and explained how that story was a big contributing factor. He had decided that the story was a reflection of me, but I realized that it was more a reflection of the amazing program I was lucky enough to be a part of and the entire athletic program at the University of Michigan. My team had elected me captain because they believed in me more than I could have ever believed in myself, and that belief in each other is everywhere you look in our athletic department."
I spoke with Clarfield this week about her unique leadership role. She said learning from an outstanding fifth-year senior, Haley Kopmeyer, as a freshman heightened her expectations of starting as a sophomore. But the job went to incoming freshman Taylor Bucklin.
"I was at a crossroads," said Clarfield. "If I was going to be unhappy over not playing, I should leave. Or I could view it as a positive thing, and I realized that 11 girls start on a roster of 31 or 32. I decided I could be the voice of those 20 girls not playing much, and I was so lucky to have senior leaders who took me under their wings even though I wasn't starting.
"I've always been a very outspoken, loud, positive person. It's in my wheelhouse, and I learned a lot from my mom and dad in that regard. But it was those seniors who nurtured me into a leadership role that turned out being influential. I never got a real chance to contribute on the field, but my spot was to be the voice of those girls who didn't play and be that 12th man on the bench, cheering people on.
"It doesn't matter if you star or even play. But if you figure out what you're good at and what you like to do -- and what I like to do is motivate people -- you can have an impact no matter what. That confidence is what carried me through job interviews."
She also credited coach Greg Ryan with establishing "a special program" at Michigan, which reached the NCAA Elite Eight her sophomore season.
Novak, like Clarfield, won multiple Academic All-Big Ten team selections. He was a mainstay and key contributor on the pommel horse lineup since his freshman year, but he derived special motivation from the meets in which he didn't do as well.
"But not only do we know what it is like to win," Novak said in his speech, "but we know how to win. With honor, integrity, humility, and with the team by our side.
"Secondly, and most importantly, we know what it's like to lose. And the reason I think this is the most important is because some people may go their whole lives never feeling the pain of defeat, but not student-athletes. And I think we learn more from our losses than we do our victories.
"But, then again, it's not so much losing, but it's what we do after we lose. Because getting back up is the hardest part of any defeat. And we not only know how to pick ourselves up after falling but also to try again. And if you think about it, what we have done after we fail is why we are all sitting here today receiving our degree from the University of Michigan, because we got up more times than we have fallen."
Clarfield and Novak have become friends through the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, where she majors and Novak minors in their studies.
"The athlete community really is pretty small," said Clarfield. "We know one another. Nolan is so capable of doing so much, and he does it in a way that is very effortless while accomplishing everything he wants. Then Nolan does this amazing thing again, and you wonder when he finds time to sleep."
Speaking at Crisler Center brought about a special connection for Novak.
He said in his speech: "I don't know what could be more symbolic of being a student-athlete than standing here in a cap and gown in the exact same spot where my teammates and I won our second consecutive NCAA national championship."
Novak, earlier this week, said, "It's the same place I kissed and raised a national championship trophy with 23 other teammates, our coaching staff and family. We reached the pinnacle of our sport there."
Coach Kurt Golder and others, including three-time NCAA all-around champion and 2012 Olympian Sam Mikulak, impacted his career.
Novak recalled Mikulak boosting his confidence at the first Big Ten Championships in which he competed, "the excitement of an All-America citation" for finishing second in the pommel horse at the NCAA meet in 2015, and earning a school-record 15.65 score earlier that season, breaking Mikulak's mark in that event.
Stacey Ervin, another teammate who also was an All-American, will once again team up with Novak this summer, when they begin new sales and development jobs with Oracle, a national computer technology corporation, in Austin, Texas.
So, both graduation speakers are ready to embark on their careers. I asked them where they saw themselves 10 years from now.
"I am going to work for that small investment firm in San Francisco," said Clarfield. "I interned there this summer, and it had a lot of similarities to the culture at Michigan. Ideally, I'd like to stay there for a few years, progress in the company and maybe go to the (postgraduate) business school.
"I know I want to stay in business and ideally stay in California, close to my family. But I'll go anywhere the best opportunity is."
Novak said, "The one thing for sure is that I am going to be working with people. I'm really extroverted and love working with new people. That was strengthened at Michigan."
He majored in sport management in the School of Kinesiology and hopes to eventually work in sports marketing and sponsorships. Novak noted that being on the executive board of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, serving an ambassador in the athletic department, and working as an intern with director of student-athlete development Brian Townsend in developing a leadership program for all student-athletes were critical to his overall experience.
Both said the decision to come to Michigan changed their lives forever.
"Life after college is what I really wanted," said Novak of his decision to choose the Wolverines. "Michigan was going to springboard me to the future I wanted, and that's what separated it from everyone else."
Clarfield said, "We live and die by the block M. It's not just an allegiance to your team, it's an allegiance to this University and everything that the athletic department represents. It's why we have so many well-rounded people and not just great athletes.
"They volunteer every week at Mott (Children's Hospital) and 'Readers and Best' (at local elementary schools), and go above and beyond it in the classroom. That's what's so special to me about this place. Fighting for Michigan is fighting for sport and yourself but more importantly fighting for the block M and being around others who understand a higher calling."
Clarfield finished her speech by detailing the unique experience student-athletes shared.
"They say that you leave Michigan," she said, "but that Michigan never leaves you."
