ATLANTA — With the women’s soccer and baseball teams participating in community service events over the Martin Luther King holiday, Georgia State student-athletes have already passed the 3,000 hour-mark for the 2013-14 academic year.

The annual goal is 5,000 hours of service in the community by the Panther student-athletes. The group has fulfilled more than 60 percent of that goal early in the second semester.

“We are always impressed at how willing the student-athletes are to volunteer their time and talents to participate in community service events,” said academic advisor Jessica Summey, who oversaw the department’s community service efforts in the first semester. “It is one of our priorities to have them give back and support the Atlanta community and they respond with their willingness to reach out, especially to the younger kids.”

Director of Athletics Cheryl Levick elevated the goal and made community service a priority early in her tenure. “Community and Service” is one of the athletic department’s core values, and the student-athletes have continued to step up their efforts, exceeding expecations every year.

Included in the student-athletes’ efforts during the first semester were visits to the Atlanta Children’s Hospital, collection and distribution of clothing and personal items for the homeless in downtown Atlanta, working as part of the cleanup crew at historic Oakland Cemetery along with several other similar projects.

Source: http://www.georgiastatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=12700&ATCLID=209384067

Vancouver Island University (VIU) athletes gave back to the community today by assisting at an event that combines spelling and sports at Ladysmith Secondary School.

Up to 120 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students from Nanaimo-Ladysmith and the Cowichan Valley school districts tested their knowledge in the 11th annual Spuptitul language competition, the first to be hosted in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith district.

Hul’qumi’num is the language spoken by at least three First Nation bands from Nanoose to Mill Bay, including the Snuneymuxw. The goal was to provide a fun environment where students can test their knowledge and proficiency in the use and applications of the Hul’qumi’num language.

As part of the day’s programming, there was a series of short basketball, soccer and lacrosse workshops with VIU and Naniamo Timbermen athletes. Each workshop had Hul’qumi’num speakers present to teach Hul’qumi’num phrases and selected words often used by players of each sport.

“We are excited about this experiential opportunity to teach students the language while they participate in the sports they love,” said Nanaimo-Ladysmith school trustee Bill Robinson, who enlisted the help of the VIU soccer and basketball athletes.

“This is a great way to give back to the community because through sports we can all find a common language,” says VIU student Dan Cato, a former Mariner soccer player, who participated with two other Mariner soccer players.

“When we associate sports with their home culture, and language it encourages them to use it in everyday life, and helps restore this culture into the lives of people in our community. Using these words on the field and the gym will encourage youth to stay connected to their home language.”

Robinson says the annual Spuptitul competition allows Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students to learn more about each other, and First Nations culture and language. The Hul’qumi’num language is being revived slowly as more children learn to speak it.

The event was organized by the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district’s multicultural and race relations committee. It was opened by chiefs from the three First Nations in the school district, including Chief John Elliott from the Stz’uminus First Nation, the Snuneymuxw’s Chief John Wesley and Chief David Bob from the Snaw’naw’as First Nation.

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Marilyn Assaf, Communications Officer, Vancouver Island University P: 250.740.6559 C: 250.618.4596 E: Marilyn.Assaf@viu.ca T: @VIUNews MEDIA CONTACT

– See more at: http://www2.viu.ca/mainly/page.asp?ID=2632#sthash.ey7hpeZW.dpuf

The next time you walk, bike or run along the Don Valley forest trails, you might want to thank a student athlete from the University of Toronto mountain bike team.

Over the past 12 years, they’ve organized an annual Don Valley forest trail clean-up day which, so far, has succeeded in removing 24,000 pounds of litter from the forest floor.

On May 24th, they’ll be rolling up their sleeves again and invite Torontonians to join forces with them. Writer Jelena Damjanovic talked to David Wright, director of development logistics, University Advancement, and head coach of the Varsity mountain bike team.

Who are the U of T mountain bikers and what’s your role?
The Varsity mountain bike team is composed of undergraduate and graduate student athletes from across the University. The team is fully co-ed and participates in the University Cup race series each fall. The team has won numerous provincial titles and members have gone on to provincial, national and Olympic competitions.

Aside from being successful on the race course the team has also been at the top of the list in terms of academics by consistently being one of the Varsity teams with the most A-average team members. My role as volunteer head coach is to try to help make their student/athletic experiences at U of T outstanding.

How did the idea for a Don Valley forest trail clean-up day come about?
photo showing students in forest with giant pile of trashThe urban forest along the Don Valley is a natural gem in the centre of the city. At first, the trails within this urban forest were being considered for closure by the City of Toronto. The team occasionally trains on the trails and were surprised in the 1990’s to hear they may lose access to them. There were environmental concerns due to trail erosion and damage to the forest, which had been designated as an Environmentally Significant Area (ESA).

U of T students took the lead and became some of the first to collaborate with the City of Toronto with the aim of becoming informed and to try and address concerns. Later, this led to helping with sustainable trail building (and closure of environmentally damaging trails), inspired academic work with focus on environment, membership with Toronto’s Task Force to Bring Back the Don and the ongoing annual trail clean-up. Since that time, mountain bikers and trail users of all types (runners, dog walkers and local community members) have worked with the City to help protect, improve and keep the trails open.

What have been some of the results and side-effects of this engagement?
Last year volunteers helped remove over 2000 pounds of litter from the Don Valley forested ravines (weighed and removed by the City of Toronto). The team later took 100 grade 5 students from the Thorncliffe Park public school for a nature walk into the Valley. The outdoor education program at Thorncliffe Public School is outstanding and hopes to change what little outdoor exposure these children get. The U of T squad invited the school to the trail clean-up event in the past and is hoping to see some of these children and their families at this year’s event.

Thorncliffe Public school is the largest public school in North America (1,500 students) and currently has 21 portable classrooms on their small playground. The 87 per cent of students are from high density / low income areas and are new immigrants to Canada. My experience at Thorncliffe Park public school was really heartwarming. The kids are keen to learn and care. Many of these children are coming from countries where worrying about war and survival are the priority and caring about the natural environment is not. We need to introduce these kids to nature, to help nurture that bond, so they can help look after the environment in the future. The Don Valley is an excellent classroom to do just that.

What’s been the most interesting or unusual thing the team came across during a clean-up?
Well, with 24,000 pounds of “stuff” to choose from I’d say the volunteers have removed enough auto parts to build a team bus, but a 250-pound bank/office safe we pulled out of the woods has to be the one of the most intriguing items. I am sure there is an interesting story behind how it arrived there.

How can potential volunteers get involved?
Just show up! Volunteers will be meeting on Saturday, May 24, at E.T. Seton Park (entrance is off 71 Thorncliffe Park Drive) at 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. The wearing of long pants and a pair of boots are recommended. The team will supply gloves, garbage bags, a free BBQ and drinks to all volunteers.

This year MBNA CANADA has supported the event and donated a mountain bike as a draw prize.

Posted Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Source: http://news.utoronto.ca/student-athletes-clean-don-valley-trails?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=News&utm_campaign=Generic

Twenty-four athletes faced a different sort of challenge yesterday.

They assembled 204 electric hydraulic lift beds beds, then rolled them into residents’ rooms at Golden Hill Nursing Home on Friendship Street.

The volunteers included 10 New Castle High School football and basketball players and 14 football players from Slippery Rock University.

The young men pitched in to lend a hand at the request of Steve Saylor and Frank Bongivengo, who are assistant football coaches at Slippery Rock University. Bongivengo also is a teacher at New Castle High School, and Saylor is director of facilities management for Quality Life Services, which recentlybought Golden Hill and runs 10 other homes in western Pennsylvania.

Saylor said the students were spending the day carrying the boxed beds, weighing 250 to 300 pounds, into the home’s courtyard, then assembling them and taking them inside. The athletes also will take the old beds out of the facility.

The athletes had no training in assembling beds, but went to work after being given a little instruction by maintenance workers at the home. Saylor said the group of athletes will help the changeover to be made with the least possible disruption at the home.

“Complete kudos to them,” said Saylor, noting that all the students volunteered for the

SPORT, PAGE A3

Athletes Nick Treloar, left, and Pat Minenok show Golden Hill residents Madeline Bucci, left, and Margaret Carbone a new bed they have just assembled and delivered to their room. Looking on is certified nurses aid Karen Mielke.

MaryGrzebieniak/NEWS

Will Graham, a Slippery Rock University athlete, assembles a bed yesterday for a Golden Hill resident.

By Mary Grzebieniak

New Castle News

Source: http://ncnewsonline.cnhi.newsmemory.com/publink.php?shareid=1f0e041d0

ASHEVILLE – The hair sticking out of the ballcaps of the players on the UNC Asheville baseball team was pretty noticeable.

Bunch of long-haired hippie types, typical for one of those liberal arts colleges?

Nope, the soon to be no longer flowing locks of Bulldogs baseball players were grown with a purpose, to help in the fight against childhood cancer.

The post-game head shaving following Tuesday night’s meeting with Wake Forest at McCormick Field was one of the many acts of public service the Asheville athletic department conducts each year, providing money and other forms of aid to children, charities and the community in general.

And at the same time providing the student-athletes a blueprint for what hopefully is a lifetime of giving and helping others.

“We recruit good kids, so hopefully giving back is not something we have to teach them, but something they are already aware of and doing when they get here,” said baseball coach Tom Smith.

“Last year (from a similar head-shaving fundraiser) we got checks from 15 states. We put $10,000 here (to Mission Health) and $10,000 nationally (to children’s cancer research), and it’s important that our kids see that the work we do off the field is benefiting others who need help.”

“It’s not so much that we are expected to do this, but it’s something we want to do,” said senior baseball player Robert McIntosh.

“We have a chance to help kids with cancer. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that?”

The baseball fundraiser caps an athletic season in which the Bulldogs spent a lot of time off-campus in and around Asheville, lending a hand, getting involved in the community and networking for both the university and perhaps future employment opportunities.

Coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick’s women’s basketball team was all over the place.

The entire team was involved in Rocky’s Readers at New City Christian School and Barnardsville Elementary, meeting in assemblies with the student bodies to explain the importance of reading and staying in school.

The team returned to the schools for pizza parties for classes that won contests, sharing lunch and playing games with kindergarten classes.

The Bulldogs were also involved in class participation with three classes at Isaac Dickson Elementary School, visiting the school on three occasions to read stories, work on math, share snacks and put on a performance for children.

The team visited MANNA FoodBank to help with warehouse packing for items that would be distributed through WNC.

Coach Frederico Santos’ volleyball team was also active, hosting a Pink-Out Game for the Ladies Night Out program that provides free mammograms to uninsured women.

The squad worked the National Girls and Women in Sports Day, giving clinics to young girls coming to campus as part of the program, and visited Asheville City Preschool and read to the kids there.

“The entire theme of giving back and the belief that ‘for whom much is given, much is expected,’ is something we talk a lot about at UNC Asheville,” said Kirkpatrick, a Waynesville native. “Volunteering is something we want to impart to our student athletes, not only to give back but being involved in the community where you live.

“Hopefully when they leave us, they understand that should be part of their life,” she said.

To read more please visit: http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2014/05/14/unc-asheville-athletes-give-back-community/9103727/