Student-Athletes Start the Season with Service

For fall College athletes, preseason training is a time of preseason service as well. The soccer, volleyball, and cross-country teams all spent time last month pitching in to help others.

The men's and women's soccer teams kicked off their annual Week of Giving with a soccer clinic at the Boys and Girls Club of Alton. After rotating through stations covering dribbling, passing, and shooting, the children put these ball-handling skills into practice in a scrimmage, playing alongside the College athletes.

Another day, both teams worked for Grassroots Grocery in Alton, which provides area residents much-needed access to fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy local foods. The soccer players cleaned parts of the store and went door-to-door, spreading word of the grocery’s grand opening. Sophomore Pierson Gill commented, "It felt great to help the Alton community, and it was fun getting to meet people and help spread the word about a good organization."

The soccer teams also worked separately at times. The men served at the Community Garden at LaVista Park. Among its many functions, the garden is a learning center for school-age children. The players beautifed the one-acre plot of fresh herbs, weeded the flowerbeds, and created new beds and plots. 

On campus, the women's soccer team helped the Facilities Department by cleaning the pool area in the Crafton Athletic Center, and the two teams together refurbished their own sport’s athletic equipment, sanding and repainting goal posts, revamping the free-kick wall dummies, and building two new soccer nets.

Meanwhile, the volleyball team began its preseason service at Peace Haven Association, a Christian Science nursing facility in St. Louis. Working in three separate groups, they painted residents’ fingernails for their annual Nails for Nana event, washed and filled bird feeders, and did some landscaping. Following a dinner break, the team returned to sing hymns to the residents right before bedtime.

Later in the week, the volleyball team helped at Beverly Farm, a residential community for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Focusing their efforts on the Equestrian Center, the players scraped and painted a barn, swept out cobwebs, and cleaned stalls. To conclude their week of service, the team washed the Senior Services Plus vans used to deliver Meals on Wheels in the Alton area.

Since cross-country team members didn’t return to campus as early as the other athletes, they weren’t able to do a full week of giving, but they still got a lot accomplished at Peace Haven. As it turns out, they’re not only fast runners but fast painters and landscapers, too!

Whether on or off campus, athletes found their service work very satisfying. As senior soccer player Kevin Silcox put it, giving back to the community “depicts what our team stands for." 

This story was compiled from reporting by Sports Information Director Heather Fairbanks posted on the Principia College Athletics website.