Luther Hits "Nothing But Net(s)"

This post from Luther SAAC Adviser and men's soccer assistant coach Will Maddox:

Attached are some pictures from an event Luther College's LASO (Luther Athletes Serving Others) has put on for a couple years. LASO is service arm of our SAAC, and puts on various events and connects our athletes with local service opportunities throughout the year. This event benefits "Nothing But Nets," a UN-run organization, which supplies malaria nets for sleeping to populations susceptible to the disease. The event involves ping-pong, pickle ball, and badminton tournaments where two people pay $10 to enter a tournament and spend a day playing net sports to raise money for malaria nets for those all over the world in need. The link for the organization is:

http://www.nothingbutnets.net/

Coe Students Conduct Sports Camp for Local Elementary School

Neglected to post this stuff we received from Coe in mid-November. These are photos of the SAAC-run sports camp for students from Polk Elementary School, near the Coe campus. Coe SAAC does a lot with this school. Thanks to Iowa Conference SAAC representative Kelsey Jipp for sending along the photos.

BV Hosts Faculty-Staff Appreciation Night

Another interesting activity from the SAAC at Buena Vista:

"BVU SAAC hosted Faculty Staff Appreciation Night at our home women's and men's basketball games. Each faculty/staff member could sign up for door prizes, compete to guess the half time score of the women's game, compete to guess the half time score of the men's game, and sign up for a 3-point shoot off. Athletics also put on a gathering for faculty staff between games to mingle and have assorted treats.  It was a great turnout and a way to build our relationships with our faculty/staff members across campus."

-- Heather Noll, SAAC Adviser, Buena Vista University

BV Conducts Alcohol Abuse Awareness Program

This came recently from Heather Noll, head volleyball coach and SAAC adviser at Buena Vista:

"Attached are pictures from Alcohol Awareness Week at BV. Student services was in charge of the week, and we teamed up with them for parts of it.  On Monday we brought a speaker in with the message, 'Courage to Care.'  She talked about how she used to be an alcoholic and how to help friends that you might see going down that path. Then, on Tuesday, we had a home women's basketball game. We rounded up two tricycles and two pairs of beer goggles and had beer goggle relay races. Two teams of four raced their tricycles from center court to the free throw line, weaving through cones, hoping off their trike and taking took three shots at the hoop. They then rode back to center court to hand off to the next person. The point was to show how alcohol can really inhibit your ability to do things."

Simpson Football Reaches Out to Seniors

Coe SAAC Shows Spirit on Homecoming Weekend

More news from Coe's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. The post was sent from Kelsey Jipp, women's basketball player and also one of two Coe reps to the Iowa Conference SAAC:

Hey Chuck,
Our Student Alumni Association started a new event called the 'Kohawk Walk' this year.  It is held the week of homecoming every year to get student organizations and committees to show some school spirit.  Basically, groups sign up for sidewalk squares to paint whatever they want on it.  Our SAAC group signed up for it and decorated the square to represent SAAC, 'Bleed Crimson, Win Gold', and our Blackout theme for our game against Wartburg.  I took a couple pics and thought you'd like to check it out.  I'll show you one our basketball team did, too.

Coe SAAC Reaching Out to Kids

This report from Coe SAAC member Sarah Waskow:

"Recently a group of Coe athletes went over to Arthur Elementary [School]. The kids were doing a walk-a-thon to raise money for their school. We went over to cheer them on as well as sign autographs. The kids loved it and we had a great time getting to interact with them.  I have attached some pictures from the event. We thought they could be something important to get on the SAAC website." Well, Sarah is absolutely right about the importance part, and we say three cheers to those who were a part of this outreach. We are waiting to hear from the rest of you in IIAC SAAC-land, so get your activities to us for posting!!

A New Year!

I look forward to meeting many of you on my visits to campus this coming year. You will be hearing, or have heard, about a Conference-wide blood drive that we're going to try and do over the course of the year. If you're selected as a Conference SAAC rep, we will have our annual meeting at Wartburg on November 14th. In the meantime, please keep me informed of stuff that you are doing as campus SAACs. We want to promote here and on our new website, which I hope you have seen. Click on the link below and enjoy this video interview with Hannah Baker, Wartburg '10, who is a finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year and was Wartburg's SAAC President last year.
-- Chuck Yrigoyen, IIAC Commissioner

http://www.youtube.com/iowaconf#p/u/0/KFT8pCpcdYA

Luther Athletes Serving Others

Terrific video summary of an athletes-driven service organization at Luther. Double-click in the video window to open it up for full view.

Coe Hosts Sports Camp for School Kids

The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at Coe College recently hosted its second Polk Elementary School Sports Camp. Coe also hosted the Polk kids back in October, and it was a great success. This is a free camp of three to four hours that includes lunch. "It has been really rewarding," said Coe SWA and SAAC adviser Randi Peterson. "We give them all lunch as well," she added. Approximately 90% of the kids at Polk Elementary are on a free lunch or reduced-cost lunch subsidy, so food AND FUN are important to the kids!

Wartburg Earns NCAA Award for S-A Leadership

Wartburg College Director of Athletics Rick Willis announced Tuesday, March 30, that the athletic department has earned an NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Leadership Conference Recognition Award. The award is sponsored by the Division III governance staff, according to a release sent out by the NCAA.

According to the release, the purpose of the award is “to recognize institutions that have successfully completed action plans that impacted the collective good of the community; students, athletes, staff and citizens of the community.” After a review of the Action Plan Updates from the institutions attending the 2009 NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Leadership Conference in Chicago, Wartburg was selected as the second winner.

The governance staff pointed to the Kids Day N’ Knights program, co-developed by senior women’s track and field athlete Hannah Baker of Keota and senior baseball pitcher Billy Schmitt of Farley and supervised by head women’s soccer coach Sara Johnson, as a “wonderful example of how your student-athletes were successful in impacting the collective good of the community.”

NEW VIDEO POSTING

The last one! A final video of the Leadership Conference still in the works.

NEW VIDEO POSTING

Another one!

NEW VIDEO POSTING

Here is the third PSA from the Student-Athlete Leadership Conference. Sorry for the delay ... the video needed to be converted for some reason.

NEW VIDEO POSTING

Here is the second PSA from the Student-Athlete Leadership Conference.

NEW VIDEO POSTING

This is one of two public service announcements created by Iowa Conference student-athletes at the recent Leadership Conference in Cedar Rapids. More on the event in a later blog posting!

NEW VIDEO POSTING

NEW VIDEO POSTING

NCAA Unveils New Identity Initative

A major focus of last week's NCAA Convention was the unveiling of a new Division III Identity Plan. You can see the news release and the first video that was produced by clicking here. You might also want to talk about the Convention generally with a rep from your school who attended. The Iowa Conference list of attendees included Annamaria Formichella-Elsden (FAR) and Jan Travis (AD) from BV; Ed Willis (FAR) and Al Dorenkamp (AD) from Central; John Chandler (AD) from Coe; John Cochrane (AD) from Cornell; Dan Runkle (AD) from UD; Bob Quinn (AD) and Denise Udelhofen (SWA) from Loras; Rob Larson (FAR) from Luther; John Epperson (FAR) from Simpson; and Todd Reiher (FAR) from Wartburg.

Ya Done Good!

The Conference office recently received a letter from Waypoint Services, the agency that was visited by the IIAC SAAC after its meeting in November. All nine schools came bearing gifts for Waypoint's holiday gift drive. One excerpt from the letter read, "Thank you for brightening the holidays for the families served by Waypoint with Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's donation of various gift cards, books, CD player, and sports cards. As we commence the New Year, hopes and dreams are plentiful and many women and children in need have been inspired through your generosity." You can see the full letter, by clicking here.