WILMINGTON, North Carolina- Students at UNCW enjoy comfortable living accommodations on campus and in the surrounding area, while many aspiring home owners in the Cape Fear Region struggle to find suitable homes for their families.

The Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) hopes to build a stronger relationship in the community by continuing to encourage student-athletes to volunteer with Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity.

Since becoming chancellor in 2012, Gary Miller has stressed the importance of building mutually beneficial partnerships and positive relationships in the community. Last year, UNCW engaged in more than 178,555 hours of service through 714 documented partnerships.

DN Cherry, a senior on the women’s track and field team, is the Community Service Chair for SAAC and began volunteering for Habitat several years ago. She proposed the idea of UNCW student-athletes serving as the primary builders of a Habitat house.

“Volunteering was fun, but it was kind of an eye opener,” said Cherry, from Greenville, N.C. “We’re out there on site from morning until mid afternoon, all working on various jobs that we are taught by the site coordinators. Building the house and helping people at the same time was really rewarding.”

Habitat for Humanity provides affordable housing for those in need. Homeowners assume a zero percent interest mortgage and work on their home and other families’ homes. The work creates a true commitment to ownership from the homeowner and helps them make a better life for their family.

The construction process for a Habitat house is quick, with the help of numerous volunteers and donations. A home usually takes four months to build. UNCW’s student-athletes are helping to build a house at 1403 King St. in Wilmington.

“We have 30 volunteers build on 10 Saturdays,“ said Jessica Loeper, Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity Volunteer Coordinator. “It takes approximately 750 volunteers to build one Habitat home.”

Several members of UNCW’s Student-Athlete Support Services staff, along with the volleyball, men’s soccer, men’s cross country and women’s cross country teams, have already volunteered their time.

“We installed sub-flooring and wall frames and the team worked along side the new homeowner, building contractors and hopeful future habitat homeowners,” said Volleyball Head Coach Amy Bambenek, who added that the experience “allowed our players to see first-hand that their work really does make a positive difference in other people’s lives.”

Will Libous, SAAC advisor, worked with Cherry to organize the volunteer efforts by more than 60 UNCW student-athletes. Cherry and Libous have both volunteered with Habitat previously and are enjoying working on another home.

“Everyone looked to be having a good time,” said Libous. “It helped to know that what we were doing was for a great cause and supporting the Wilmington community.”

Despite time constraints with classes and practice schedules, the student-athletes have managed to work in time at the house. “Once athletes get out there, the response has been great. Everyone loves it and works really hard,” said Cherry.

Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity’s goal is to build 12 homes each year in New Hanover and Pender counties. The organization has helped more than 150 families in the Cape Fear area since 1987.

With the continued support from UNCW, Loeper believes that Habitat can support even more families in the Wilmington community. She hopes the recent efforts by the student-athletes will lead to future involvement.

Libous also looks forward to the continued relationship with the organization. He believes this will create a closer bond between the community and the university.

“As with any involvement the student-athletes have in the Wilmington community, it shows that they are committed to giving back to this great community, which gives so much support to UNCW and the athletics department,” said Libous.

Construction on the house continues this spring, with completion scheduled sometime in May. The volleyball, men’s soccer, men’s cross country and women’s cross country teams have raised walls and installed vinyl siding.

“It’s apparent that the student-athletes involved have a true desire to help our Habitat homeowners,” said Loeper, “and they are making a difference in life of this homeowner and her family.”

The East Coast Conference will be holding its Annual Carnival at Molloy this Saturday.

The carnival is free for children of all ages and will have contests, games and prizes!

The carnival goes from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Quealy Gymnasium.

Please RSVP to Leslie Busch, ECC Associate Commissioner at lbusch@eccsports.org.

Coming full circle for many athletes ends with giving back to the community and to the game that they love. For Pacific University’s baseball and softball student-athletes, that meant helping the younger generation of ballplayers by passing on the skills they know and use now.

The Pacific softball team held their third annual youth camp on Nov. 24, 2013 for players in the 12U and 10U age groups while the Pacific baseball team held their youth camp on Feb. 1, 2014 for ages 7-13.

Originally, the softball team held camps as a fundraiser to help supplement their budget but continues to do it because it has become a tradition.

The softball team holds a youth camp and a high school camp. The high school camp serves as a form of recruiting while the youth camp is mainly for the kids and the community.

This year was the first year since 2010 that the Pacific baseball team has held a youth camp. Previously, they were directed by Pacific University Baseball Head Coach Greg Bradley. With 2014 being Bradley’s last coaching season, two new assistant baseball coaches have taken over for putting together the youth camps.

Camp director Aaron Svarthumle and Nate Rasmussen are both former Pacific baseball players and are in their first season as assistant coaches.

Pacific University Softball Head Coach Tim Hill feels that the teams’ involvement with the community holds a weight of importance.

“We want to try and connect with the kids in the community,” said Hill. “Just trying to keep them involved more than anything.”

Giving back is the biggest thing for Rasmussen when it comes to youth camps.

“You don’t have to do youth camps. They’re not huge moneymakers, nothing like that,” said Rasmussen. “You do it because it’s good for baseball.”

“In baseball, you grew up going to camps and that’s how you develop the love and you want to get back to it,” he said.

The camps are not only important because the players and the community get involved, but also because they help the young kids with developing their skills.

The softball camps were able to bring in professional hitting instructor Sparky Parker and professional catching instructor and former Portland State University catcher Hilda Stone.

Having Parker instruct at the youth camps was important because he also serves as the softball team’s hitting instructor.

Stone was coached by Hill since she was 12 years old and coached alongside her for six years.

The Pacific baseball team was originally scheduled to have a camp on Jan. 25, 2014 as well, but cancelled because too few kids had signed up.

Pacific also hosts a “Junior Boxer Day” where the kids from the youth camps as well as any players aged 4-17 are invited to spend a day at Chuck Bafaro Stadium and Sherman/Larkins Stadium to watch both Pacific Boxers baseball and softball games.
“You want to give back to the game,” said Hill.

Source: http://www.pacindex.com/sports/2014/03/17/fostering-youth-in-sports-baseball-and-softball-hold-camps/

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Chili, cornbread and salad were the menu at the Warming House in downtown Olean. St. Bonaventure golfer Dan Dunnigan and his teammate were the chefs.

Afterward, they sat down for a meal at what is believed to be the oldest student-run soup kitchen in the nation and shared stories, laughs and occasional advice.

“The salad, that wasn’t so popular,” he admitted. “But, really it’s a great time for us and for them. At Bonaventure, every single team goes to the Warming House. A lot of teams do it once a month. Everybody enjoys it. It’s part of the culture. We get something out of it and so do they.”

Fordham volleyball adopted a teenager with sickle cell anemia, sending her encouragement via text messaging. George Mason student-athletes are gearing up for Dr. Seuss’ birthday on March 2 with plans to read to elementary-age schoolchildren.

Atlantic 10 athletes run, shoot hoops, row, kick balls, flick backhands and train, practice and prepare for their selected sports. But off the field, they step up to the plate for community service, one of several significant initiatives set forth by the conference’s Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC).

SAAC representatives from each of the A-10 member institutions shared their passion for community service during a three-day workshop at the league’s offices in Newport News, Va., from Feb. 7-9. The busy weekend was filled with leadership and teamwork discussions, and it gave the student-athletes an opportunity to share what each of them does, in leadership, teamwork and community service.
Family, Leadership Lessons Bring A-10 SAAC Together

“It was great to be with people who are just like me. It was an awesome opportunity to be with people who were great leaders, and we could share all the different aspects of leading and have the opportunity to mold that to what we do back at school. We’re so busy, we don’t always have time to reflect,” said Dayton cross country runner Mickey Ludlow.
The community service discussions were an important part of the weekend, giving the student-athletes insight into a critical, but sometimes overlooked part of being a member of a team and a community.

“As an athlete, you have a responsibility to give back to the community because the community is supporting you,” said George Washington soccer player Jane Wallis. “You’re an ambassador for the school. It’s part of your brand to give back to something bigger than you.”

Wallis found a way to intertwine her community service with her career path. In the fourth year of a five-year program, Wallis is working toward her master’s degree in public health. She and other GW student-athletes take part in the Grassroots Project, which educates at-risk youth in Washington, D.C., about HIV/AIDS awareness, resiliency and decision-making using games that teach lessons as opposed to straight lectures. In addition to GW students, others from Georgetown, Howard and Maryland are involved.

“It’s really cool getting to meet athletes from all the different schools. I’ve been involved for four years, and I’ve really worked my way up in the nonprofit, so it’s really become more like a job,” said Wallis, now the program coordinator for her school.

Her favorite part has evolved into training others to do what she has enjoyed doing since her sophomore year.

“That’s been a huge task in the last year,” she said. “How do you get athletes to go and stick with it? How do you balance having fun and being serious? I started training others my junior year, and I’ve been so much more successful after a year, seeing what works so that they get as much out of it as I have.”

This year, the A-10 has added a twist to the conference’s community service initiative. The A-10 Assists Challenge incentivizes student-athletes to commit to community service by having them log hours into a program created by the conference, which tracks service by school. Just as each of the conference’s 21 sports will have a winner by season’s end, so, too, will the schools in relationship to community service.

“You want to do it anyway, but this inspires you more,” said La Salle’s Jennifer Whelan, whose volleyball team joined with the field hockey team for a cleanup effort during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. “It’s going to benefit everyone because everyone is going to do more hours.”

Another plus, added Duquesne soccer player Devon Tabata, is showing the rest of the country the upside side of college athletics. “You always want to show student-athletes in a positive light, because unfortunately when you hear about athletics, it’s often negative. We want to show the rest of the country what else we do.”

The A-10 will award a plaque and public recognition to the conference SAAC member institution that earns the highest point value.

VCU soccer’s Garrett Cyprus said his teammates have enjoyed being part of celebrate!RVA, a group that believes in the magic of birthdays and arranges them for underprivileged children.

“It was started by a 16-year-old kid who thought that underprivileged kids still need a positive environment,” he said. “So she decided it would be great to throw them birthday parties. We joined in, so now they get to have a birthday party with athletes and toys and stuff that puts smiles on their faces. As a team, it’s a bonding experience, and there’s been a growth there interacting with these kids.”

In Rhode Island, several Ram teams took part in the BoldrDash Race, a military style obstacle course 5K with a muddy ending. The event raised money for local charities and most recently benefitted the victims of Hurricane Sandy in the southern part of the state.

“It was a lot of fun; it was our workout for the day,” said Rhode Island rower Abbey Miklitsch. “We also did a food drive. It was something that was really nice, and it was easy for the rowing team. We have the box in the office, and we all come by there once a day anyway. It was just nice to give back.”

St. Louis soccer player Kingsley Bryce said A-10 Assists at his school benefits from a new app that allows student-athletes to see when and where their peers volunteer.

“You see what other athletes are doing and maybe it sounds interesting, so you tag along with them,” he said.

His team, he said, had dedicated its time to help physically disabled kids discover soccer and basketball.

“You help them do the simple things,” he said. “Sometimes you forget just how simple the game is.”

Lauren Skesavage, a women’s soccer player at Massachusetts, noted that her team does a wide variety of community service initiatives, and the team often has a good time participating and helping out.

“We will go to an elementary school, and we go for breakfast. We chat with them, sign autographs. Last year we had a bowl-a-thon with Big Brothers Big Sisters. We raised money for their foundation, which was a lot of fun,” Skesavage said.

Another SAAC initiative that keeps student-athletes competitive off the playing field is a video competition centered on a select theme. “Commitment to Teammates” is the theme for this year’s competition. Videos are completely student-produced, limited to 90 seconds and due March 18. They are open for a fan vote; George Washington was the 2013 winner for its “Evolution of a Student-Athlete” video that garnered nearly 3,000 votes during a weeklong online poll.

While many of the campus SAAC groups are in the preliminary stages of brainstorming ideas — Miklitsch lamented that Rhode Island’s SAAC meetings keep getting postponed due to weather — others are further along, though some of the student-athletes are more secretive than others in revealing too many early details.

“I don’t know how much I want to give away. . . .” Bryce said furtively. “It is competitive.”

Dunnigan was eager to share the story behind the St. Bonaventure entry, which promises to be particularly emotional, as it will focus on former Bonnies baseball player Andrew Revello, who died last July after injuries sustained in a car accident. He was 22.

“Dice was his nickname,” Dunnigan said. “We’re dedicating our video to him. Our whole community rallied around it. It was a sad story. We thought he was on the road to recovery and he just passed away. Everyone has his number 30 on their helmets and on their basketball jersey, so that’s the premise of our video.”

The George Mason video will explore how teams create their own camaraderie. “As soccer players, we all huddle together after a goal and give pats on the back and high fives,” said Patriots junior Paige Babel. “Every team has their own thing.”

The La Salle video will focus on a day in the life of a student-athlete, showing just how much time they spend in the company of one another – which seems like all the time, Whelan said.

“You get up together at 5:30 in the morning to do your lifts. We work out together and we push each other. And it builds throughout the day, leading up to a game maybe,” she said. “As you go through the day, you see tons of student-athletes coming together.

In a similar vein, Richmond field hockey player Allison Haas said the Spiders video will hone in on the genuine aspect of teamwork “not necessarily the things you see at practice, but further on when those relationships and bonds really form because you’re on a team together.”

Tabata said Duquesne’s video depicts teammates as extensions of brothers and sisters. “Just like your family, you would do anything for them,” she said. “Sometimes you have situations when your brothers and sisters do things you don’t agree with or make mistakes, and although you might call them out, you always have their back. That’s Duquesne athletics.”

In addition to being Duquesne’s SAAC representative, last July Tabata was named to the NCAA Division I SAAC, was recently selected to represent the Atlantic 10 as a member of the prestigious NCAA Division I Academic Cabinet and was elected vice chair at the national level at the recent 2014 NCAA Convention in San Diego.

“Nothing that happens in all of college athletics impacts anyone else as directly or more powerfully than the student-athletes,” she said. “I’m ridiculously passionate about everything that’s happening right now.”

Actively involved with Student Council at Worthington Kilbourne High in Columbus, Ohio, Tabata wanted to make an impact beyond soccer and academics. “I fell into SAAC when my roommate and I started going together and I just found myself constantly speaking up and caring more and more about it. As I learned more, and I use this word a lot, I became passionate about it.”

Tabata is particularly enthusiastic about legislation in regards to prospective student-athletes and the recruiting process. It was a time she enjoyed, and she wants to ensure it stays positive to future collegiate athletes.

“We really push to make sure that process stays safe and positive for student-athletes,” she said. “Being recruited is an exciting time. We don’t want the needs of a coaching staff to overshadow a student-athlete’s experience.”

Tabata said SAAC at the national level is also working to ensure that all information continues to flow easily to SAAC at the campus level. “We’ve discussed how to increase and enhance that communication chain,” she said.

As vice chair of Division I SAAC, Tabata can offer input on the new governance structure within the NCAA, as currently a restructuring process is under way. Ideally, Tabata said, SAAC would like an actual vote in decision-making as opposed to the current structure where representatives give input but lack voting power.

In her role on the Academic Cabinet, Tabata represents all Division I athletes. It’s a responsibility she doesn’t take lightly despite all the other demands on her time.

“The reason I was inspired to represent student-athletes on that Cabinet is that a huge push for me is that we are students first,” she said. “I don’t think people say that a lot, but we live that. That needs to stay our No. 1 priority. I’m there to make sure when we pass legislation, that student-athletes are put first.”

By Vicki L. Friedman
Special to Atlantic 10.com
Source: http://www.atlantic10.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31600&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co&ATCLID=209437339

The Rhodes Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) recently organized a volunteer outing of Rhodes student-athletes at Streetdog Foundation. It is one of Memphis’ few non-kill shelters and operates on charitable donations and volunteer efforts.

More than 30 Rhodes student-athletes contributed their time as well as toys, treats, and food for the dogs. They performed tasks such as walking dogs, cleaning out examination rooms, cleaning out cages and crates, and cleaning out play areas and common areas at Streetdog′s home facility, Grace Animal Hospital.

Part of the Rhodes SAAC Mission Statement is to reach out to the local community in order to enrich the overall collegiate experience for the student-athlete body at Rhodes.

View this story and other athletic news at http://www.rhodeslynx.com