July 20, 2011
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KISSIMMEE, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - One of UCF Athletics' oldest community partnerships, Rotary International, has seen a magnificent renaissance in 2011, with several UCF coaches and administrators visiting over two dozen regional Rotary Clubs within the area's District 6980, so far this year.
Most recently, UCF Athletics appeared at two Rotary Club functions on Wednesday, in the morning with the Casselberry club and during the afternoon at Four Corners in Kissimmee. On Thursday, UCF staff will visit the club in Lake Mary. On Thursday, July 28, head football coach George O'Leary will highlight the program at the Rotary Club of Orlando, near downtown.
"Having these opportunities to speak directly to our core fan base has been critical for the women's basketball program," said Greg Brown, associate head women's basketball coach. "We've told our external department staff to line them up and we will be there. It has been a great experience so far."
Brown, along with Associate Director of Athletics Joe Hornstein, was the featured speaker for the near capacity crowd in attendance at the Four Corners Rotary Club Wednesday afternoon, held at the Carrabas restaurant in Kissimmee. Earlier in the morning, Director of Ticket Sales Torey Brewer, with Hornstein and members of the ticket sales staff addressed an outstanding Casselberry audience.
Fresh off the Knights' second Conference USA women's basketball championship in three seasons, Brown spoke about the important role that community plays in the development of his team. He urged local business leaders in attendance to strongly consider utilizing student-athletes in community events as character-building initiatives as well as part of UCF's commitment to strengthening its community ties.
After his opening remarks regarding community outreach, Brown laid out the program's guidelines for success used over the last three seasons. His message, entitled as "Trusting the Process", uses vision, clarity, sustaining effort and claiming "it" as the four points of emphasis. Brown described how those four points have played a key role in the success of the program in recent years.
Hornstein began the event taking the audience through the new UKNIGHT SALUTE and went over the new UKNIGHT and Get "THE PATCH" marketing campaign. Hornstein concluded his portion speaking to the importance about building relationships between UCF Athletics and the surrounding communities.