For student-athletes, there are a great deal of responsibilities to manage on a day-to-day basis. While the “status” of being a student-athlete may be overwhelming at times, it also comes with a lot of really cool opportunities that other college students might not get the chance to have, including community service.
Community service is a wonderful opportunity for student-athletes to give back to the communities they represent and in which they live. During my own personal experiences Bridgeport and Temple, as a team we were able to work with a handful of organizations. At Bridgeport, we were fortunate to be able to participate in Team IMPACT and “adopt” a gymnast into our team. At Temple, we did a lot of community outreach activities, like hosting younger athletes for clinics and doing other schoolwide activities to give back to the community.
My experience is just one of many, and in an attempt to shed light on different organizations and make this as diverse as possible, I wanted to look across divisions and conferences to see how community service is emphasized within other programs.
“Each week there are three opportunities [for community service],” said Florida senior Chloi Clark, who is a member of the 2023 All-SEC Community Service Team. “[And the staff in charge of community outreach at Florida] try to find some on the weekends, too. There’s one on Tuesdays where you can read to kids at their schools, we go to the hospital to visit kids on Wednesdays, and on Thursdays, we have what is called ‘lunch buddies’ where we can hang out and have lunch with the kids at their schools.”
Likewise, Arkansas junior Maddie Jones, another member of the All-SEC Community Service Team, shares just how important volunteer work is within the Razorback program and the way the team gives back to the community throughout the year. “We have done our Give Back program for the past two seasons, which is where our team picks an organization each month of our season and we donate money on their behalf.” Jones shares that the team has had the chance to work with Bo’s Blessings, the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter, the Tyson Food Truck through food assistance programs, as well as several of the community’s local elementary and middle schools.
As Clark and Jones emphasize the importance of community outreach and how this looks within their programs from the student-athlete perspective, the importance is similar in the coaches’ point of view as well. “We take community service seriously within our program, and it’s something we put a lot of emphasis on,” Texas Woman’s assistant coach Kristen Harold said. “We try to balance the work we are doing on and off campus too. We think it’s important that we are not only serving the ‘outside’ Denton community…but it’s also important that we can serve our school community.”
Serving the school and local community is something extremely important Bridgeport head coach Lorraine Galow as well. “[We focus on] keeping the service we do within our Bridgeport area to give back directly to the community we are in.” Bridgeport has had the chance to work with Groundworks Bridgeport to help in the beautification and cleanup of the city, the Make a Wish Foundation with its seasonal fundraisers and activities, and, something new the team is doing this year, volunteering at the Vicki Soto 5K in memory of one of the teachers who was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012.
“I want the girls to see their position on the team and as a student-athlete is not only a privilege, but it gives them the opportunity and [resources] to go back out and help other people.”
A team that is no stranger to emphasizing volunteer work is William & Mary, which has had community service deeply embedded within its program for decades. Head coach Kelsey Hinton shares the team has had the opportunity to work with Here for the Girls and the Patriot Sprint Triathlon, as well as FISH, a local Williamsburg organization both the men’s and women’s gymnastics teams have had a heavy hand in. “We want to make sure we are seen in the community… I want the team to know this is more [than] gymnastics, it’s more[than] athletics. It’s about giving the help that you can when you can.”
Being seen within the community is something Harold speaks on with the work the team has been able to do both on and off campus; TWU has had the opportunity to work with food assistance programs like Groceries 2Go and Minerva’s Market, as well as seasonal volunteer work like Boo at the U, a ‘trunk-or-treat’ activity with local kids, and Saving Grace, a new event the team has been involved with for the past three years. Additionally, the team goes to local Denton-area schools to volunteer during field days, book fairs, and school dances, as well as sets up meet and greets.
From my own experience, one of the things I have struggled with the most since graduating is finding my identity outside of being a student-athlete. Across schools, sports, and divisions, having the status of being a student-athlete is so heavily emphasized that sometimes it’s hard to feel like you are more than your sport once that part of your life is complete.
One way to keep a little bit of that identity is by continuing extracurricular activities like community service post-graduation, or even with your career, like Clark hopes to do.
“[It] has given me an identity outside of gymnastics,” she said. “It’s something I’m passionate about, it’s something that I love to do, and it really brightens my week. I want to [have a career] in sports management, focusing on community service outreach and student-athlete enhancement, so doing this has been amazing. [This] takes away that ‘I’m only a gymnast’ mindset; of course I’m a gymnast and that will forever be a part of me, but I also love this part and being able to go out into the community and do service.”
Likewise, Jones, who wants to pursue a career in sports digital marketing and is the current SAAC Chair for community service outreach at Arkansas, said, “[This service] has helped me realize how lucky I am, and being able to help other people in need is such a heartwarming feeling. There’s so much more outside of being a student-athlete, and I want to be involved in helping those who need the help.”
Jones shares how instrumental Arkansas as a University has been in helping her find her identity outside of the sport and how she has been pushed beyond her comfort zone to go out into the community, learn about those in need, and learn how to put the skills she has outside of gymnastics to use. From the perspective of two student-athletes, this really drives home the point of how important it is to start to build an identity outside of athletics as you enter the “real world.”
Harold agrees, saying that what she hopes for her student-athletes to be able to take away from their experiences post athletics is that “these experiences can show our athletes there are things outside of gymnastics, there are other important things in the world, and they have the ability to be a part of actual change. When the ‘student-athlete’ experience is all said and done, what can you take into your career, into your life in general.” Hinton shares the perspective Jones has on community service, acknowledging what they have and being cognizant of those who might not be as lucky.
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Article by Julianna Roland
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