The thought of teaching and standing in front of an elementary school class made several UCF student-athletes nervous, but at the end of the day it was a memorable and rewarding experience.

 

13 Knights took part in the first "JA for a Day". A program associated with Junior Achievement of Central Florida. The goal of the organization is to help teach children in grades K-12 how to make smart academic and economic choices.

 

The UCF student-athletes taught five lessons to children between grades 3-5 at Hidden Oaks Elementary School.

 

"It's a wonderful opportunity for our student-athletes to not only develop professionally, but also personally," said UCF Assistant Athletic Director for Student Services Keith Embray. "The number one fear is speaking in the public and they will have to speak in the public to little people, but at the same time were very happy to be here."

 

To find out more about how "JA for a Day" went for the Knights watch the video above.

There's a Knight in the upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated, set to hit news stands on Friday, April 26. Sprinter Octavious Freeman is featured in the long-running segment "Faces in the Crowd," which highlights standout amateur athletes.

With all of the noise the UCF track and field team has been making not only nationally, but internationally as well, the Knights have graced the headlines of several prominent publications and websites. 

UCF's dynamic duo of Octavious Freeman and Aurieyall Scott are more than just great competitors. They are great friends, and the Orlando Sentinel featured the NCAA medalists' relationship on Thursday. 

 

After nearly ten hours of travel, the UCF women's track and field has arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska to participate in this weekend's Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational. The Knights will compete against some of the top teams in the nation inside the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

The Knights men's basketball team continues its hot play winning five of its last six games and has a 4-1 record in Conference USA.  UCF will hit the road and head to New Orleans for a Wednesday night matchup against the Tulane Green Wave. The team will then head north to Huntington, West Virginia to face the Marshall Thundering Herd on Saturday afternoon.

Junior Isaiah Sykes has been scoring from everywhere on the court recently. In the last three games, the Detroit, Michigan native scored at least 20 or more points. He also had a 21 point and 10 rebound performance against the SMU Mustangs, which was his third double-double of the regular season.

The women's track and field team will compete in one of its most competitive indoor meets of the season at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational. The Knights are coming off another successful meet at the Hokie Invitational where distance runner Anne-Marie Blaney set another freshman record. Blaney ran a record 17:07.74 for first place in the 5,000 meters.

UCFAthletics.com will have complete coverage video coverage from this week's Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational. Continue to check UCFAthletics.com for more coverage of the Knights.

The men's basketball team is getting ready for another contest against a team from Texas after an exciting overtime win against the Houston Cougars this past weekend.

Isaiah Sykes scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while both Keith Clanton and Calvin Newell combined to score 34 of the team's 79 points. The win marked UCF's second victory in Conference USA play and puts them in a tie for fourth place in C-USA.

This Wednesday, the men's basketball team will face the Rice Owls. On Saturday, the Knights will go up against the SMU Mustangs and new head coach Larry Brown. The longtime head coach has spent the majority of his coaching career in the NBA, but the last college team he coached was the Kansas Jayhawks in 1988. He led them to the NCAA Championship that season.

In track and field, the Knights will compete in the Hokie Invitational in Blacksburg, Virginia. UCF has been off to a hot start and was very impressive last week at the Gator Invitational and the Auburn Invitational.

At the Auburn Invitational, freshman distance runner Anne-Marie Blaney broke the school record in the 3000 meters for the second week in a row with a time of 9:44.58. Sophomore Octavious Freeman ran a nation's best 7.19 seconds in the 60 meter dash.

For more news on the Knights continue to check UCFAthletics.com.

A tough overtime loss for the UCF men's basketball team overshadowed career games for Keith Clanton and Tristan Spurlock, the Knights will look to bounce back this weekend when they hit the road again and travel to Houston to take on the Cougars Saturday night.

Clanton scored 36 points and Spurlock added a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds in UCF's 88-85 overtime loss against ECU. The Knights will face the Pirates one more time this season when ECU travels to Orlando on February 9^th.

The women's basketball team will be back home this upcoming weekend after a tough 69-54 loss against the SMU Mustangs. UCF will host the Southern Golden Eagles Sunday afternoon in the UCF Arena.

The women's track and field is coming off a very successful Kentucky invitational where the team finished with  eight marks that rank among the NCAA's top 10 and a new freshman record in the 3,000 meters by Anne-Marie Blaney.

The Knights will travel to Gainesville to compete in the Gator Invitational and to Birmingham, Alabama to take part in the Auburn Invitational.

Also, keep a close eye Thursday night on the MLS Draft. UCF men's soccer standout Deshorn Brown is expected to be a Top 10 selection. Find out more about Brown and the rest of the UCF athletic squads in the video above.

As the UCF track and team continues preparation for the 2013 season opener next weekend at the Kentucky Invitational, the Knights also has their focus on the Orlando community. The team volunteered time at Orlando's Community Food and Outreach center, whose motto is "We give a hand up, not just a hand out."

With Christmas only weeks away, the UCF track and field team got into the holiday spirit by spending time Saturday morning volunteering at the Safehouse of Seminole County.

Twenty-four members of the team helped the shelter, which serves women and children who are victims of domestic abuse, get a little more festive by decorating the house with Christmas lights. The Knights also helped sort gifts - enough to fill 10 shopping carts -- and cleaned the home's outside deck.

Check out some photos of today's community service. 

Following her win in the Best College Athlete category at the SPORTYS on Saturday, UCF All-American sprinter Octavious Freeman was featured in a video interview with MileSplit. Freeman discussed her win at the second-annual awards ceremony hosted by Central Florida Sports Commission, her freshman year at UCF and her Olympic aspirations. 

UCF track and field and cross country coach Caryl Smith Gilbert has been nominated as an outstanding Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of Citrus. She will attend the ceremony this  Saturday at Rosen Shingle Creek as the winners of the four nomination categories (Visionary, Leadership, Lifetime Achievement and Community Impact) are revealed. 

Several members of the track and field team were on hand Thursday night to receive a special honor from the UCF Student Government Association.

The SGA presented the Knights with a resolution to congratulate the team on its successful 2012 season that saw the Knights clinch their fourth Conference USA championship, claim 13 All-American honors and send four competitors to the USA Olympic Trials.

"The reason the Senate chose to honor the team was because it is a huge source of UCF pride to see the success of our athletic teams," said Matthew Goodison-Orr, chairman of the Campus Relations Committee. "The Senate, especially the Campus Relations Committee, serves to acknowledge the accomplishments of the students that make this university as great as it is. Winning a championship is not easy as it requires hard work and determination of unimaginable levels. The women's track team deserves to recognized for the fruits of their labor."

Assistant coach Paul Brown and sophomore Sandy Jean along with UCF captains Erica Weiss and Sonnisha Williams accepted the recognition on the team's behalf. The quartet received a standing ovation from the Senate. 

Afia Charles, a native of Greenbelt, Md., was featured in her hometown paper on Thursday as she is a day away from competing at the Summer Olympics in London. A link to the story can be found here: Former Roosevelt sprinter competes in London