SAAC 11/16/03 Meeting Minutes
Guest Speakers:
Nancy Rodriguez is a professor at UConn in Nutritional Science and is a
representative of Female Athlete Performance Committee. She talked to us about
alcohol use and how in the past we have only been told about how we will be
penalized for drinking, or other consequences. Her group is hoping to use more
of a “performance hindrance” approach when talking about it. She talked about
how even a couple of beers can affect your performance and because of this
athletes should not drink while in season. She had a nutrition poster (Husky
Fuel: The Inside Edge) that had a lot of nutritional facts on it. If you think
that we should produce similar one with alcohol facts, please let Bill Shults
know if this would be a good idea. It could be hung in each locker room.
Mike Enright is the Associate Director for Communications and has recently
been working on our website for SAAC. Our website is attached to the
UConnHuskies.com website and is being powered by Nerac and communications. If
you have not looked at this site, please visit it soon. It has a roster of
athletes involved, upcoming dates, what we have already done as an organization,
and other things. A few other ideas were to put more pictures up, a message
board, adding the minutes onto the site, a real calendar for scheduled events,
links to sign up for up-coming events, and a way for former athletes to sign on
so they can keep in touch. If you have any more ideas please let us know. Also
if you have any pictures, digital or not, please drop those by communications so
they can get up on the website.
Community Service Updates:
Dr. Bruening reminded us briefly about the Hartford Reading Program that will be
starting this Wednesday, November 19th. If you are still interested please
contact her at jennifer.bruening@uconn.edu.
Jen Sanford (UConn Crew Head Coach) talked about the Husky Midnight Marathon
which is an event to raise money to support cancer research and medical care for
children. If your team would like to be involved you can sell the paper balloons
for $1 a piece. The money will be due by February 1st. Your team can also
sponsor a family. This would cost $350 and there are 28 families that need to be
sponsored. If your team would like to pair up with another team and do this,
please let Coach Sanford know (486-3848). Also the Husky Midnight Marathon will
be occurring on Friday, February 13th starting at 5 pm, and will last for 12
hours extending into Saturday, February 14th. If you decide to sponsor a family,
you will get to hang out with your family at this dance. Please see Jen Sanford
on coach’s row in the field house if you have any questions.
The Toy Drive is coming up very soon. If each representative could collect a
$1 from each teammate (or more) and bring in the money to the Ice Cream Social
on December 7th. If your team would like to purchase unwrapped toys and bring
them in, those can also be brought on the 7th.
We are hoping to start planning the Student-Athlete Auction to help raise
money for charity this spring semester. We did this two years ago and it was
very successful. This is when we auction off athletes to go on “dates” (May Ice
Cream Social) with the people who bid the highest. If you are interested in
helping with this please contact Kate. So far Chessie, Cat, and Ashleigh would
like to be involved.
Special Events:
• The Ice Cream Social will be occurring on December 7th (7pm) in the Natatorium
lobby. Please invite your team and enjoy some ice cream!
• Cornerstone Christmas Party will be occurring Friday, December 12th at 6
pm. This is a chance to go to the St. Bernard’s Church and spend some time with
the kids there. There will be games, food, and more. Please let Kate know if you
can attend this event. We will be leaving campus at 5:30 pm.
• The Toy drive will be advertised and we will have collections at the Gampel
basketball games on December 2nd & 6th. We are looking for volunteers to man the
collection bins (similar to the food drives).
Big East SAAC Update:
Ursula went the Big East SAAC meeting and represented UConn. They talked about a
lot of things including amateurism, financial aid, summer school, medical
expenses, Student Athlete Opportunity Fund, and Foreign Tours.
The Student Athlete Opportunity Fund: This is available for all students and
is not based on need. This fund can be used to pay for supplies for school, test
fees, application fees, or emergency trips home. Talk to Pat Babcock (486-6054)
if interested or have any questions.
Other Random Bits of Information:
The NCAA Leadership application has come out. This is an all-expense paid trip
to Disney World to talk about things that can be done to improve the school and
the community here at UConn. This is a very competitive process with UConn
nominating 4 people and hopefully one will be picked. The personal statement is
looked at heavily on the local and national level to be admitted. The deadline
is early January, and the decision will by February. This is only offered to the
freshmen through junior classes. Talk to Bruce Cohen (486-6483) if you have any
questions.
Bruce Cohen will be teaching a Junior/Senior Life Skills class again this
spring. Please let you teammates know to sign up for this enriching course.
Future Meetings:
December 7, 2003 - Ice Cream Social (Toy Drive Money or Toys Due!)
January 25, 2004
February 15, 2004
March 21, 2004
April 18, 2004
May 2, 2004 - Ice Cream Social |
