Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC)

WestConn SAAC Schedule of upcoming events:

Thursday - May 13 - Athletics Field Day/BBQ

The Athlete Field Day/BBQ is this Thursday from 12 noon -5:00 PM…and we are anticipating a beautiful and sunny day of fun. The Field Day will be located at the practice field (just before the baseball field on the right).

There will be food, a slip-and slide, a large inflatable boxing ring, and a large inflatable jousting ring and a volleyball net set up.

Make sure to get as many of your athletes there in order to celebrate the ending of a great year in WCSU athletics!

We assigned teams at the last meeting to prepare and bring extra dishes of food….below is what was assigned. Make sure that someone from your team delivers the food that your team was assigned to the BBQ area at 11:30 AM.

Volleyball – Chocolate chip cookies
W. Basketball – brownies
W Soccer – cupcakes
Softball – Rice Krispie treats & Dirt Cake
Swimming – pasta salad
W Lax – more cookies
Baseball – fruit salad
Field Hockey – more cupcakes

Thursday - April 29

There will be SAAC meetings tomorrow, April 30th at 12:15 PM in the O’Neill Center Conference room. We will be looking for feedback on the Athlete Auction & Campus Clean-up and also continue planning for the May 13th Field Day (Rain date is May 14th).

This will be the last SAAC meeting of the semester with the entire group. The Field Day Sub-Committee will be meeting one more time next Friday to make sure the final details are all worked out for that event.

WestConn SAAC Nominated for
2010 Connecticut Higher Education Community Service Award

STUDENT GROUP AWARD NOMINEES
The 2010 Student Group Award will be presented to two groups who have served as models of leadership in community service. Nominees must have demonstrated leadership in the development and implementation of community service within the campus community and must have demonstrated initiative and creativity in community service participation. Nominees must have engaged in community service that resulted in a
positive impact on campus and within the community.

Student Athlete Advisory Committee, Western Connecticut State University

WestConn's Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is a student led group comprised of representatives from each of its varsity athletic teams. One main component of this Student Organization is the planning of campus/community based programs. A student-athlete's participation in SAAC provides an opportunity for personal growth and development and community involvement.

From Spring 2009 to Fall 2009, SAAC developed and organized 5 campus and community based projects. Below you will find a list of those specific projects in detail and how they benefited the community.

1. Each Wednesday throughout the academic year, 2-3 student-athletes from each sport volunteer their time to make and/or serve a Morning Glory breakfast at the Dorothy Day Hospitality House on Spring Street. For 26 weeks, there are approximately 80 student-athletes who spend their mornings from 6:30-8:30 am preparing and serving a breakfast for those less fortunate in their community.

2. On April 20, 2009, the Annual Student-Athlete Auction was held to benefit Nothing but Nets, a charity to help fight malaria in Africa. 2-4 student-athletes from each sport were "auctioned off" to other student-athletes
and non student-athletes who place the highest bid. The winning bidders received a gift card donated by local businesses. There were approximately 40 student-athletes "auctioned off" that evening raising $475 which allowed the charity to purchase 47 malaria nets.

3. Each year in celebration of Earth Day, SAAC organizes Westside Campus Clean Up. In Spring 2009, this took place on April 24th. Studentathletes from each team were organized into cleaning groups and assigned an area of the Westside Campus to collect trash and return the debris in bags to the front of the Westside Athletic Complex. In all, we collected approximately 28 bags of trash that day.

4. The 3rd Annual Haunted Walk was sponsored by SAAC on Sunday, October 25, 2009 at the Westside Athletic Complex. 100+ local Danbury children and their parents attended the event which was advertised
throughout the 14 Danbury Elementary Schools. 2-3 student-athletes per team were in charge of setting up the "Haunted Walk" downstairs in the Stadium as they turned the Visiting Team Locker Room into a Haunted
Locker Room with the help of lights, cobwebs and other halloween decorations. Next, 2-3 different student-athletes from each team dressed up in costumes and lead the school children and their parents through the Haunted Locker Room. We also had face painting for the children and handed out candy.

5. SAAC organized the collecting of both food and clothing from the entire campus during the week of November 13-20, 2009 to donate to the Danbury Aids Project on West Street. Many bags and boxes of non
perishable food and clothing were donated by the student body along with student-athletes, coaches and administrators throughout the week and then delivered by SAAC Members and administrators to the Danbury Aids Project for the upcoming holiday season.

The list of Subcommittee members is below:

Amy Hartman
Jessica Bouwman
Samantha Avery
Natalie Crosby
Kelley Collins
Michelle Hearns
Katelyn Farrell
Alyssa Heller
Meghan Mammone
Michael Baccaro
Rachel Gabrielson
Sarah Stevens
Brianna Mitterando
Nicole Perrone
Dennis Poulter
Kara Krurzkiewicz
Lindsay Gorman
Michael Yates
Jessica Arconti
Liz Vitale

Friday - February 5

Hello all,

We are starting up SAAC this Friday with our first meeting of the semester. The SAAC meeting will be held in the O’Neill Center Conference Room (202) at 12:15 PM this Friday (Feb 5th).

At the end of last semester our numbers for SAAC were relatively low and we felt it was time to “restructure” how SAAC goes about its business, conducts its meetings, re-establish what it is that SAAC looks to accomplish, and how SAAC is portrayed not only within our athletic family…but on campus as a whole.

This could be a very exciting time to be part of something special within our athletic department…but we are going to need your support in order to start this positive change by encouraging your student athletes who choose to be part of SAAC to simply commit to being a part of the process.

What we are requesting from all of the coaching staff is to have as many of your student athletes (who do not have a commitment this Friday at 12:15 PM) to attend this initial SAAC meeting. There will be some snacks to munch on…and if they want to bring their lunch…that’s fine also.

I can’t express how important it is to have AS MANY of our athletes at this first meeting…whether or not they think they want to be part of SAAC. Even if they decide that they will not be part of SAAC for the remainder of the semester, I think that once they hear some of the ideas that we have for SAAC and the direction that we’re looking to go…we will have a much more energetic and enthusiastic group who DOES choose to commit.

Please feel free to call/email me with any questions. I’m looking forward to seeing as many of your athletes as possible on Friday!

Greg Poole
WCSU Volleyball
GO COLONIALS!!!
(203) 837-9022

SAAC

WestConn's Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is a student led group comprised of representatives from each of its varsity athletic teams.

SAAC meetings are held on a regular basis throughout the academic year. The purpose of the meetings include, but are not limited to: discussing questions and concerns raised by student athletes, discussing policies and procedures that impact student athletes, and planning community based programs.

Participation in SAAC provides an opportunity for personal growth and development. At the same time, it also provides an opportunity for individuals to have an active role in the administration and evaluation of the intercollegiate athletic department. As a direct link between the athletic staff and the nearly 325 student athletes on campus, SAAC affords students the opportunity to engage in open communication with members of the athletic and university staff in an effort to maximize their experiences as a student and athlete.

The goals of the group include:

To improve the overall athletic experience for all student athletes.
To enhance the image of the intercollegiate athletic department among members of the campus and local communities.
To serve as the liaison between all student athletes and the athletic department.
To develop and conduct community service activities.

History of the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee

An Association-wide SAAC was adopted at the 1989 NCAA Convention and was formed primarily to review and offer student-athlete input on NCAA activities and proposed legislation that affected student-athlete welfare.

The initial national committee was comprised of student-athletes from all membership divisions for the purpose of ensuring that the student-athlete voice was one that accounted for the myriad of educational and athletics experiences of both female and male student-athletes at all NCAA member institutions. In August 1997, the NCAA federated along divisional lines. The federation caused the SAAC to expand to three SAACs representing NCAA Divisions I, II and III.

Each national divisional committee is comprised of both female and male student-athletes charged with the responsibility of assisting in the review of NCAA proposed legislation and representing the voice of the student-athlete in the NCAA governance structure. This is accomplished by providing student-athlete input on issues related to student-athlete welfare that are division-specific. (Federation has increased student-athlete participation in the governance process of intercollegiate athletics by increasing the number of SAAC members from the former Association-wide committee of 28 student-athletes to a sum total of 79 members serving on the national Divisions I, II, and III committees).

The input of the respective Divisions I, II and III SAACs continues to be sought by a variety of constituencies within the Association. Student-athlete committee members have the opportunity to speak with their respective NCAA Management Councils, and the Divisions II and III SAACs continue to speak to legislative issues on the NCAA Convention floor.

National SAACs (Divisions I, II and III) at a glance:

Generate a student-athlete voice within the NCAA structure.
Solicit student-athlete response to proposed NCAA legislation.
Recommend potential NCAA legislation.
Review, react and comment to the governance structure on legislation, activities and subjects of interest.
Actively participate in the administrative process of athletics programs and the NCAA.
Promote a positive student-athlete image.