By Patrick Tintle
Contributing Writer
College can be a difficult time in one’s life. New responsibilities present themselves and these responsibilities require time, effort and dedication. Many students experience this transition in addition to living the life of a student-athlete.
The Atlantic 10 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is an organization created to help student-athletes balance their roles and assist them in creating the image a student-athlete has.
The St. Bonaventure chapter of SAAC has 30 members. Members represent St. Bonaventure Division I teams including baseball, men and women’s basketball, men and women’s cross country, golf, lacrosse and men’s and women’s soccer and softball.
The organization allows for direct communication between athletes and administrators, providing a valuable bridge between student voices and those who need to hear it.
“The Student Athlete Advisory Committee benefits the average student-athlete by bringing attention to the athletics’ personal and university staff any major issues or problems that arise that affect the student-athlete ability to perform at their best,” senior SAAC president Nathan Destree said.
SAAC values team unity. It develops players from teammates into team leaders. Members of SAAC know they have a responsibility to be an example for the rest of their team. On or off the field, these individuals need to portray the image of a student-athlete Destree said.
“St. Bonaventure student-athletes hope to give off the image of hard working and dedicated people that are students first and athletes second,” Destree said. “I think we do a very good job of this by all of our teams being very competitive in the Atlantic 10, as well as at the national level and keeping up with our studies.”
Academics play a key role in being a student-athlete. This past fall, student-athletes pulled a cumulative GPA of 3.18 (compared to the student body GPA of 3.07).
Not only does SAAC look to benefit the character of the student-athlete, it also looks to better the surrounding community. The committee takes pride in its dedication to charity and has organized and performed multiple events benefitting the less fortunate.
“Teams come together for community service,” said sophomore vice-president Dan Egan. “Each team goes to the Warming House and there is a community clean-up in Allegany.”
SAAC has also been a consistent promoter of cystic fibrosis awareness. The committee holds fundraisers selling St. Bonaventure athletic T-shirts with the proceeds going toward cystic fibrosis research. The organization is aware of itself and the values it inherits from being in a Franciscan university.
“Teams sign up to volunteer at the Warming House. With each team’s schedule being very complicated with games, travel and daily practice, we do our best to give back to the community with the free time we have,” said Destree.
SAAC makes sure all student-athletes are being respected in their needs.
“SAAC is most active behind the scenes, with voting on the rule changes and making sure that everything is in place to help with the success of our student athletes in the classroom and on the field,” Destree said.
