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Scholl Reflects on ACC SAAC Meeting Experience
8/5/2016 2:00:00 PM | Women's Tennis
As a rising senior on the tennis team, I had the opportunity to represent Duke's athletic community at the ACC Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) meeting last month, alongside Chris Taylor and Madison Granger. The meeting was attended by two to three student-athletes from each ACC school's SAAC committee. For those of you who don't know, SAAC's purpose is to give student-athletes a way to let their voice be heard by the governing bodies of collegiate sports and increase communication. The meeting lasted a few days and during that time we discussed ACC SAAC partnerships, NCAA legislation and other ongoing issues that we thought were important. We were even able to take some discussion breaks to do some fun teambuilding activities together!
We started off the meeting by discussing some of the causes we've supported in the past and how we might be able to improve the impact that we make on them at each of our universities. More specifically, ACC SAAC has partnered with the Project Life Movement, One Shirt One Body, and the One Love Foundation. Project Life is a movement that aims to “increase the potential pool of bone marrow and tissue donors by testing and registering college students with a simple cheek swab.” It was very moving to hear more about the movement and how just a simple swab could potentially help save a life. As a side note, this is definitely a drive that we want to try to do this fall, so keep an eye out for that!
One Shirt, One Body is a movement started by Notre Dame student-athletes with the purpose of donating issued athletic gear to local organizations to promote higher education and inspire kids to do the best they can.
Lastly, the One Love Foundation aims to raise awareness about relationship violence and was founded in 2010 in honor of Yeardley Love, a lacrosse player at UVA who was a victim of this abuse. Currently all incoming Duke student-athletes are required to complete the workshop, so we were able to give feedback to others on how to best implement this program in order to make it most effective. Following a short break for dinner, we all got back together to get our creative juices flowing and paint a picture (it became very easy to tell who was from which school based on the colors they used for their painting).
The next day consisted of a discussion about NCAA legislation concerning time demands and early recruiting. It was very interesting to hear all the different input that people from various schools and sports had regarding these issues. It quickly became apparent that it is challenging to come up with legislation that is equally fair and beneficial to all sports, simply because our sports are so different in some aspects. Additionally, it became obvious that we had different opinions on issues because of the experiences we have had with our coaches. Some of us felt that a certain rule was necessary because our coaches had abused a loophole. However, others did not agree with that because they had not had that experience and appreciated the flexibility that not having a more stringent rule in place afforded them. One example of this are the voluntary practices that coaches schedule which sometimes don't really end up being optional at all. At the end of the day, the coaches you have are really what determine whether or not you have a positive experience as a student-athlete.
After having all these serious discussions, it was time for some activities! We went to an escape room where you're locked in with the rest of your group and have to solve a few puzzles within an hour in order to get out. We also played some laser tag after that, which was super fun to do with other athletes (the no-running rule they told us about probably only lasted for a couple seconds)!
On the last day we discussed one other very important issue: NC House Bill 2. We were all extremely concerned about the ruling because it is very important to us to provide an inclusive environment to everyone, regardless of gender identity. It has also already begun to impact athletic competitions in NC, with some collegiate competitions being canceled that were supposed to be held in the state and of course, most recently, the NBA game being moved out of Charlotte. This is really an issue that goes beyond athletics and it is truly great to see people standing up against this and supporting the LGBTQ community.
Being able to attend the meeting was a great experience that opened my eyes to a few different things and solidified my belief of how lucky we are to be student-athletes, especially at a place like Duke University. I've realized that student-athletes have a great opportunity to initiate change due to the wide appeal that sports carry. Realizing this has also shown me just how true one of my favorite quotes is, namely: “be the change you wish to see in the world.” There were only two to three student-athletes from each school there, but imagine what will happen when we take the action items we came up with back to our schools and get others invested in what we are trying to do. Change has to start somewhere and there is no better time than the present to start initiating it yourself.
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