Last year, Ohio State’s 36 varsity teams, consisting of more than 1,000 student-athletes, gave back to the community with almost 6,496 hours of community service, according to a Sept. 2 online press release from OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
“We’re role models and representatives of Ohio State,” said Jackie Barto, women’s ice hockey coach. “It’s a huge part of the program” to give back.
Teams volunteered at 117 local schools, organizations and events throughout Columbus during the 2008-09 season. Programs such as Project Mentor and 2nd and 7 Foundation allow athletes to interact with elementary, middle and high school students by reading, mentoring and speaking to groups of all sizes.
“I think [giving back] is a big part of being an athlete, especially at Ohio State,” said Haley Mitchell, a senior member of the swim team. “In Ohio we have such a big reputation and we want to make sure people know that we’re there for them.”
With the devastation in Haiti last month, Barto, whose team held a canned food drive at home games on Jan. 22 and 23, said she believes most people have a lot to be thankful for. While giving back helps others in the community, volunteering provides a reality check for the blessings in one’s own life, Barto said.
“We get caught up in our daily routine, but when you go out there and do something for somebody else … it makes you feel like you did something real,” said Megan Alexander, a senior member of the swim team. “You have the ability to … maybe make a difference in [somebody’s] day.”
This year, each team continues to support the surrounding community by embracing their own projects or programs.
Pistol coach James Sweeney said pistol and rifle pair up to host the shooting competition for the State Wheelchair Games each spring held at Lt. Hugh W. Wylie Range. While the games include many other sports, the shooting competition gets bigger and more competitive each year, Sweeney said.
In the past, pistol members have delivered pumpkins to Ronald McDonald House and partnered with troops of Boy Scouts to train them on firearm safety and marksmanship. Here at OSU, the team provides a shooting experience for a clinical science course titled “Politics and Gun Control.”
“Our team trained their 40 students on the safe handling of firearms,” Sweeney said. “Instead of just theoretically talking about firearms, they actually came and experienced firearm target shooting.”
Over winter break the women’s swimming and diving team took time outside of training to speak to a small group of high school students about the type of role models and mentors they had in their own lives through Project Mentor.
“We talked about how our older siblings had been mentors, or a coach, or a teacher, and then the kids had a lot of questions,” Mitchell said. “I’m not sure that we necessarily inspired them, but it’s definitely nice [to feel] connected to them because we could relate to sports or any extracurricular activity having to do with a mentor.”
In the past, the team has cleaned up a local park by collecting and disposing of trash. Coach Williams said they tried to work at a soup kitchen back in December, but they couldn’t find the right time in their schedule, which is a problem most teams and people can relate to.
“We’re in the water from 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 in the morning and 1:45 to 3:45 in the afternoon,” said Williams, adding class times to the list of obstacles. “It’s difficult to do philanthropy, but we try and encourage the kids to do it [when they can].”
The softball team raised $15,000 for the Stefanie Spielman Fund for breast cancer research during its 2008 Ohio Collegiate Charity Classic in October. In the spring, men’s soccer and volleyball assembled care packages for shipment at Operation Buckeye headquarters.
Last year, the field hockey team held a season-long drive to collect items for Operation Buckeye, an organization that ships care packages to U.S. troops serving overseas. They were so successful they decided to continue the drive this year. The men’s soccer and volleyball teams also contributed to Operation Buckeye, assembling and sending care packages to the organization’s headquarters.
Freshman goaltender, Chelsea Knapp, of the women’s ice hockey team said giving back is important because it helps build a community fan base.
“I think we should find some way to thank the people who come out to our games,” Knapp said, referring to the Skate with the Team sessions women’s hockey hosts after home games. “All the interaction we have, the better fan base we have.”
This spring, the women’s team will participate in the Race for the Cure for breast cancer, an event the team has fun with, Barto said.
The team also reads to elementary students on a weekly basis through 2nd and 7 Foundation. The program, pioneered by three former OSU football players, displays in large text on it’s Web site Margaret Fuller’s quote, “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.”
Senior co-captain Rachel Davis said the 2nd and 7 Foundation has created some competition between the teams.
“It’s kind of a competition to see who can get to the spots first, because we absolutely love it,” Davis said.
With winter underway and springtime opportunities ahead, OSU varsity athletes have begun and will continue to rack up their community service, and with that, team bonding hours this year.
While OSU athletics requires athletes to participate in some form of community service throughout the year, athletes still walk away with an instilled sense of community giving. They also provide an example of how anyone can give back despite a loaded schedule.
“It’s important with anything that you do [to] give whatever you can back to whatever community you’re in,” Mitchell said. “Regardless of where that is.”
