June 9, 2008
The recent success of the overall UCF athletics program has brought added attention to the Knights by fans of all ages and, with that visibility, has increased the responsibility that the school's student-athletes have to serve as role models. And that's not a responsibility that is taken lightly by UCF's student-athletes, who won two Conference USA team championships in 2007-08.
In addition to excelling on the playing fields and in the classroom, the other key component to the lives of many UCF student-athletes is community service. Members of each of the school's athletics programs take time out of their busy schedules to make a difference in the lives of fans of all ages and help those less fortunate.
The cornerstone of the school's community service program is its year-long project, selected by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, of working with the Central Florida Children's Home. According to the CFCH, it cares for abandoned, abused and neglected children aged 3-18 whose parents either cannot or will not care for them.
To assist in that goal, UCF student-athletes have spent time eating dinner with the children, held events to raise money for the home and have hosted children on campus at various sporting events.
"It is really important to the UCF Athletics Association and Mr. [Keith] Tribble to see our student-athletes involved in the community," said Marcus Sedberry, a graduate assistant to the athletics director, who provides oversight to the athletics association's community service program. "A student-athlete's life revolves so much around sports and academics, that community service is a great opportunity for them to realize how fortunate they are and allows them to reach out and help others fulfill their dreams."
In total, student-athletes from UCF's athletics programs worked with more than 15 community partners over the course of the 2007-08 school year, as participants from various sports have conducted both team and individual service projects.
"A lot of times when people think of athletes, they often put them on a pedestal and see them as being very result-driven people," Sedberry said. "When they get out in the community, it makes them more human and gives them a chance to come off that pedestal in the fans' minds. Student-athletes aren't just one-dimensional people and they aren't solely about results, they are focused on doing the right thing. These service projects give them an opportunity to show that UCF athletics really cares about the community."
One focus of the UCF community service program has been school-aged children. Several teams have read to elementary school children, participated in the Heart Walk for the American Heart Association and have spoken to school children about the importance of saying no to drugs and staying in school.
A key program in that effort was the participation by the baseball, basketball, football, soccer and spirit squads in the UCF Youth Sports Festival, in which Knights' student-athletes taught the fundamentals of their sports to elementary school kids.
"It is definitely important for our student-athletes to work with kids because in this area, they hear a lot about UCF and look up to the athletes as role models," Sedberry said. "It is always easy for student-athletes to relate to kids because they remember the times when they were a kid and they had the opportunity to interact with their own role models."
The UCF women's basketball team has been one of the leaders in community service, volunteering at Wheels for the World, helping set up at the Heart Walk and the Knight Walk for March of Dimes, visiting the Summerville Senior Living Center and Lawton Elementary, and volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club.
"We want to train our players to be leaders," head women's basketball coach Joi Williams said. "Community service is a great way of learning and demonstrating leadership. We also want to be an active part of the community and have the local community be a part of our athletics family. It is a great outreach program for our players to participate in and learn from."
According to Sedberry, student-athlete interest in community service projects continues to grow and there is never a shortage of participants anytime a community service event opens up. The key, he says, is to continue building a comprehensive program that allows each student-athlete to participate in service that interests him or her.
"Our student-athletes really understand the importance of participating in community service," Sedberry said. "Whenever there is an opportunity, they always jump on it. It is important to strike the proper balance between sports, academics and community service. The key is getting student-athletes from each of our different sports involved in community service activities, which make our programs more visible, especially to the East Orlando community, where a large number of our fans reside."
-Sean Cartell
This story appears in the May edition of KnightVision. Produced 10 times per year, KnightVision is the official publication of UCF Athletics. Each issue includes stories about UCF teams, student-athletes and coaches. To order 10 exciting issues from August through June, call 1-888-877-4373 (ext. 121) or 336-768-3400 (ext. 121).