By Craig Morgan, thesundevils.com Writer
Sun Devil student-athletes work diligently to earn the educational and athletic opportunities they are afforded in a major Division I college program. They train and practice for long hours, they maintain impressive grade-point averages and they balance the dueling demands of their collegiate life with significant amounts of travel.
Somehow, they also find time to donate their service through a variety of community service projects.
"We always tell our players there are things so much more important than basketball," women's basketball coach Charlie Turner Thorne said. "Basketball is a vehicle for us to make a difference."
While community service may be a Sun Devil Athletics requirement, the student-athletes insist it is anything but an obligation. It is a privilege in which they are eager to engage.
"I want to positively influence people like I was influenced when I was growing up," said women's basketball player Sophie Brunner, who has volunteered at local elementary schools. "It's not just for them. I learn a lot about different cultures working with Hispanic and Latino students. How they operate and where they come from. I definitely feel grateful for all that I have when I see it's such a struggle for some people just to put food on the table, but they always come with such positive attitudes so they inspire me."
The Sun Devils' community service projects come in a variety of forms. Sun Devil wrestler Ryan Nantuna has a reputation around the athletics department for volunteering at just about every project that comes along. Nantuna has taken part in Sparky's Tour, a pep-rally and youth education assembly where Sun Devil student-athletes interact with elementary school children and teach the values of personal character and healthy living.
He also volunteer coaches at Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club and he has volunteered for fantasy flights, an actual airplane flight in which more than 100 underprivileged kids are flown around the Valley for 20 minutes and then land at a pretend North Pole at Sky Harbor International Airport where they meet Santa, Sparky and student-athletes, get their faces painted and receive gifts.
"Just the satisfaction of knowing I'm making a difference in somebody else's life and making their day seem better -- if someone else is happy, I feed off of that," Nantuna said. "It's definitely a reminder that how you perform out on the field isn't always the only thing you should look at. Your character, how you're helping others, how you're doing in school are important. It's not just sports all the time."
Brunner estimates that she volunteers eight to 10 hours per week. Nantuna and women's basketball player Kelsey Moos say it varies.
"Last year, our team went to St. Vincent (De Paul) homeless shelter and actually served a meal there to really low-income families," Moos said. "It was real eye-opening for all of us and it was my first time serving in a homeless shelter.
"The platform we have to be able to influence and help people is really powerful and it's something you have to take advantage of. You may still volunteer when you're not a student-athlete any more but the platform in this short time we have here is unlike anything you'll ever experience again."
Last year, Brunner volunteered for a cleanup project on the Navajo Nation that involved moving rocks and picking up trash to improve the living space for people in a village. The visit turned into far more.
"We partook in so many activities," said Brunner who is majoring in educational studies. "We saw this really cool dance celebration that was like 10 to 20 minutes long, we went around the village to see where people lived and got to meet everyone, we ate different foods. A lot of the elderly women had created baskets for us. It was so cool."
"I'm not sure yet if I want to teach or work with kids in a different setting or even coach, but I'm going to take all these experiences into account and apply them. I've learned so much by doing this work. I'm sure it will help me in life after college."
Sun Devil student-athletes work diligently to earn the educational and athletic opportunities they are afforded in a major Division I college program. They train and practice for long hours, they maintain impressive grade-point averages and they balance the dueling demands of their collegiate life with significant amounts of travel.
Somehow, they also find time to donate their service through a variety of community service projects.
"We always tell our players there are things so much more important than basketball," women's basketball coach Charlie Turner Thorne said. "Basketball is a vehicle for us to make a difference."
While community service may be a Sun Devil Athletics requirement, the student-athletes insist it is anything but an obligation. It is a privilege in which they are eager to engage.
"I want to positively influence people like I was influenced when I was growing up," said women's basketball player Sophie Brunner, who has volunteered at local elementary schools. "It's not just for them. I learn a lot about different cultures working with Hispanic and Latino students. How they operate and where they come from. I definitely feel grateful for all that I have when I see it's such a struggle for some people just to put food on the table, but they always come with such positive attitudes so they inspire me."
The Sun Devils' community service projects come in a variety of forms. Sun Devil wrestler Ryan Nantuna has a reputation around the athletics department for volunteering at just about every project that comes along. Nantuna has taken part in Sparky's Tour, a pep-rally and youth education assembly where Sun Devil student-athletes interact with elementary school children and teach the values of personal character and healthy living.
He also volunteer coaches at Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club and he has volunteered for fantasy flights, an actual airplane flight in which more than 100 underprivileged kids are flown around the Valley for 20 minutes and then land at a pretend North Pole at Sky Harbor International Airport where they meet Santa, Sparky and student-athletes, get their faces painted and receive gifts.
"Just the satisfaction of knowing I'm making a difference in somebody else's life and making their day seem better -- if someone else is happy, I feed off of that," Nantuna said. "It's definitely a reminder that how you perform out on the field isn't always the only thing you should look at. Your character, how you're helping others, how you're doing in school are important. It's not just sports all the time."
Brunner estimates that she volunteers eight to 10 hours per week. Nantuna and women's basketball player Kelsey Moos say it varies.
"Last year, our team went to St. Vincent (De Paul) homeless shelter and actually served a meal there to really low-income families," Moos said. "It was real eye-opening for all of us and it was my first time serving in a homeless shelter.
"The platform we have to be able to influence and help people is really powerful and it's something you have to take advantage of. You may still volunteer when you're not a student-athlete any more but the platform in this short time we have here is unlike anything you'll ever experience again."
Last year, Brunner volunteered for a cleanup project on the Navajo Nation that involved moving rocks and picking up trash to improve the living space for people in a village. The visit turned into far more.
"We partook in so many activities," said Brunner who is majoring in educational studies. "We saw this really cool dance celebration that was like 10 to 20 minutes long, we went around the village to see where people lived and got to meet everyone, we ate different foods. A lot of the elderly women had created baskets for us. It was so cool."
"I'm not sure yet if I want to teach or work with kids in a different setting or even coach, but I'm going to take all these experiences into account and apply them. I've learned so much by doing this work. I'm sure it will help me in life after college."