Last Friday evening, Coach Rob Ambrose and the Tiger football team assembled in the Minnegan Room for a very unique seminar.

As the players entered the room, none of them were sure what was going to happen over the next 90 minutes. As they came into the room, they were greeted by a friendly guy named Steve Shenbaum.

Steve Shenbaum is the founder of “game on,' a unique communication company utilizing improvisation and role playing techniques to help athletes, teams and corporations improve self-awareness and creativity while enhancing communication, social confidence and sense of humor.

He oversees all communication and media training programs at IMG Academies and travels around the country leading dynamic presentations, focusing on the power of honesty, humility and humor through the use of improvisation.

For the Los Angeles native, this is actually a second career. A graduate of Northwestern University, he was an actor until 2003 when he founded game on.

He first considered this line of work after some sessions with tennis star Pete Sampras. Over the last 15 years, he was worked with National Hockey League standouts Sidney Crosby, Erik Johnson and John Tavares along with NFL quarterbacks Eli Manning and Alex Smith. He has also worked with professional teams like the New York Yankees and the Jacksonville Jaguars as well as many college football programs.

When he came to the Towson campus, he conducted an entertaining interactive program with the Tiger football team, performing skits with Greg Grant, Anthony Davis, Spencer Sutton and Frank Beltre.

The only instruction he gave was, “We're going to laugh – and we're going to 'laugh with.' We're not going to 'laugh at.'”

And the Tigers did laugh for 90 minutes as they learned better methods of communication.

During one very entertaining skit, Greg Grant was cast in the role of a world-famous surfer who had written numerous best-selling books on the topic.

To some of the players in the room, Shenbaum looked very familiar. They recognized him from his movie roles in “Space Jam” and “American Pie 2” where he played the Band Camp Counselor. He also played guest roles on television comedies like “Married With Children” and “Will & Grace.”

Although Steve played those roles with pride, he is even more proud of his current role at game on.

Steve takes life seriously by choosing to take comedy seriously.  He uses improvisational comedy to help people communicate with confidence.

“With the Tiger football team, I wanted to demonstrate the power of positive laughter to get them on their feet and start communicating with each other,” he said. “The main objective was to improve the communication skills and the chemistry of the team.”

Steve said that he enjoyed his experience working with the Tiger football team, which won the 2011 Colonial Athletic Association championship.

“I could sense that there is a really cool culture within this team,” he said. “Everyone was early for the seminar and that is unusual. Plus, the players filled in the front row right at the start. There are some teams where the players move to the back of the room to get as far away as possible.”

The Tigers also enjoyed their experience with Steve. When his 90 minutes were up, the players rose to their feet and gave him a standing ovation.