By: Mark Wasik
KSUOwls.com will profile the efforts of Kennesaw State student-athletes in the community throughout the academic year. Georgia Power is a proud supporter of Owls in the community.
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KENNESAW, Ga. – While Kennesaw State Athletics has been making its mark on the field and on the court this year, that's not the only place the Owls have been making an impact in the local community. Every KSU squad has also spent numerous hours volunteering their time in Kennesaw and surrounding areas, helping in several areas ranging from cleaning up in the community, helping with food donations and toy drives and assisting with programs at children's hospitals and nursing homes, for well over 1,000 hours from just this 2021-22 athletic season alone.
One of the most notable events was the recent "KSU Spring Field Day" at the KSU Perch on April 8, as Walton Communities and Mission 1:27 brought over 48 kids from the surrounding neighborhood to the Owl football practice fields. There, student-athletes from five different KSU teams were on hand to work with the kids, showing them different drills and games from their sport as well as talking to them about how they became college athletes.
"Today was a really exciting event," said
Sterling Brown, Director of Character Development at Kennesaw State. "To get some kids from the surrounding communities out here to our campus to engage with our student-athletes was great to see, our athletes get to have fun with the kids, introduce a new sport. To me this is what it's all about, building these relationships. To some of these kids, it's the first time they've ever been on a college campus. Or they are seeing a sport for the first time in their life, and these are moments that you don't forget as a kid. As an athletic department we are looking to reach out and build relationships in our community and this is a great event to allow us that opportunity."
Brown worked with
Bryant Odom, men's golf head coach, on this year's event as this is the second time the Owls have held this after having it as just a men's golf event the first time out in 2020. Odom was looking forward to this year's event not just because of the chance to introduce the kids to the sport of golf, but also for the experiences for his own players.
"To expose these kids to golf and other sports has been great," said Odom. "This is the first day many of them have picked up a golf club and to see the smiles on their face after they hit a golf ball 20-30 yards, it's amazing. It's extremely important, just for the character building and to see the opportunities that some people don't have to play these sports that we do, while they can meet our student-athletes who are role models to them."
Representatives from Walton Communities were very excited for this year's event. "This is teaching our kids character and to look up and have aspirations to go to college, while also providing the opportunity to have peer models," said Monetia Hollier.
"The connections that they can make today, especially for our young men, most of our kids are from single-parent homes," added Carmen Edwards. "So that connection with another male, especially one that looks like them is very important. We are very happy for our participation with Kennesaw State athletics and hope we can keep these relationships going between our two groups."
Several of the Owl student-athletes on hand at the clinic were excited about what they could teach to the kids. "Honestly it feels really good to see kids that look up to us and are doing what we used to be doing," said Camryn Simmons from the women's soccer team. "It felt good to know that we can try to make a difference with them and to show them there are different kind of opportunities out there."
"I remember being younger and being in their position and seeing older role models," said football's Ryan Harris. "It feels great to be in that position now and to be able to work with the kids especially the younger ones that we can inspire."
The younger kids did relay races, and events like who could throw or kick the farthest, and we did a lot of one-on-one drills with the older kids, and they really seemed to like that. This was just one of many events we've done over the season. We did an event with the Miracle League and that was really eye-catching, knowing how they aren't able to do some of the things that we can, and it was very inspiring for us, keeping us grateful for the things we have and to not take them for granted."
Some of the other highlights from the Owls' community service events during this year have included several Owl teams being involved with the Horizon League in Acworth. That program provides children and young adults with developmental and physical disabilities the opportunity to participate in athletic events, including baseball and kickball. In addition, the KSU women's lacrosse team participated in the first-ever adaptive lacrosse clinic in the state of Georgia, thanks to a collaborative effort between the Owls, the city of Acworth and USA Lacrosse.
The KSU softball team held its annual Alexis Kaiser Foundation game Lexi's Day, the purpose of which is to raise funds for children with special needs, while Owl volleyball holds its annual Griffin's Game in the Convocation Center, with all the donations given each year to a different local family dealing with childhood cancer.
"A big part of making an impact is service, going out and building relationships in the community," said Brown. "If that's going to a kid's hospital, or to a school and reading to them or bringing them onto campus or working with our special needs community. To see our student-athletes first-hand impacted by the positivity of a kid in a children's hospital or the generosity of someone being able to share a meal, it gives our athletes a chance to see how much of an impact that can have on people's lives, and we are proud we are able to provide these opportunities for them."
