Community Service in Student Athletics

GOOD SPORTS

By Chuck Wasserstrom

There is more to being a student-athlete at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga than donning a Mocs uniform and going to class.

Community service plays an integral part in the student-athlete experience, says Laura Herron, UTC executive associate athletics director for compliance and administration and senior woman administrator.

“When they’re out in the community with their teams giving back, eating lunch with kids, reading to them, putting on the clinics and stuff, it really touches our athletes because they realize how fortunate they are,” Herron says. “They may not think that they’re mentors or special, but, you know, every little boy and girl is looking at them.”

UTC student-athletes generally do more community service projects as a team than as individuals, Herron says. While there are no specific mandates, she encourages teams and coaches to perform 10 hours of community service each semester per student.

“Of course, we do have individuals that go beyond that, and a lot of student-athletes do it for the sake of doing good, not for the publicity.”

Herron cited a host of organizations Mocs athletic teams have assisted in recent years, including Girls Inc., Clean and Green, the Chambliss Children’s Home, Read Across America and Special Olympics. Some of the teams have done lunch buddy programs with area elementary schools, too.

A member of the Mocs athletics department since 1994, Herron says she constantly reminds student-athletes that eyes are always on them.

“We always encourage our student-athletes to wear their athletic attire around campus so people know who you are, and when they see kids, encourage them to stay in school,” she says.

Herron pointed to the off-the-court accomplishments of Liz Wood, a former Mocs women’s basketball player who received an undergraduate degree in psychology with a concentration in education in May.

Now pursuing a master’s in education in school counseling at UTC while serving as a graduate assistant with the basketball team, Wood is the Southern Conference representative to the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

“Every school has a SAAC, and then our conference has a SAAC, and she is the president of our conference SAAC. So she represents the Southern Conference to the NCAA, and one of her big pushes is with community service and doing more,” Herron explains.

Serving on the board with 31 other conference representatives, Wood is part of numerous initiatives involving student-athletes.

“I think SAAC is a great way for our student-athletes to realize how much power is within their voice,” Wood says. “Once we get it out into the community, kids start to see how much student-athletes can do just outside of their sport.”

Wood recently saw first-hand the effect student-athletes can have in the community.

“This summer, we were able to get our basketball team out there to just hang out with kids,” she explains. “We were able to teach some of the young girls some skills, working on their form and dribbling, passing, just the little things. Just being able to begin those relationships that we’re hopefully going to be able to keep up with.

“I absolutely loved it, especially knowing that some of those kids were less fortunate. We were able to be there and love on them and just show them that there’s so much more to being a student-athlete.

“We are truly, genuinely there for them and for our community. It’s such a great feeling.”

SAAC is a great way for our student-athletes to realize how much power is within their voice

— Liz Wood, former Mocs women's basketball player