The Red FLASH
Issue 1: [September 2010]
The Red
The Official Newsletter of SAAC and SAMs
FLASH S tudent A thlete M entors By: Catherine Helming
Student-Athlete Advisory Committee By: Katie Dacanay SAAC, which stands for Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is one of many active groups on campus. Despite the fact that SAAC is not an organization unique to Saint Francis, many students, faculty, and staff are unaware of how special this committee really is. Often called “the voice of student-athletes,” SAAC consists of two representatives from each of the 22 teams on campus. They meet twice each month with the athletic administrators to discuss sports, academic and community issues. SAAC serves as the main means of communication between student-athletes, the athletic department, and administration. Representatives are also further divided into subcommittees so that the organization can be more involved in different activities. SAAC does more than the administrative business tasks. One mission is to organize community service events, for example the Northeast Conference Penny War, which raises money for cancer, and the Alicia Richardson Sports 4 Kids Day. Most importantly, it is a unifying group that brings Saint Francis Athletics together as a family. SAAC representatives keep each other updated on how their teams are progressing as well as make plans to support each other at big games. These student-athletes are dedicated to making Saint Francis Athletics better and better every year. The officers for this year are: Maria Penksa (President), Paul Print (Vice President), Julia Baczeski (Secretary) and Catherine Helming (Treasurer).
Many of you probably have never heard of or even seen this organization in the past years, but everything is changing this year including the direction of SAMs. S.A.M.s stands for Student Athlete Mentors, a group of athletes who come together to mentor all freshmen student-athletes. There are five executive board members who help lead the program: Chad Martson, Rachel Capizzi, Catherine Helming, Madison Madore, and Ryan Revtai. Also, the Student-Athlete Development personnel, John Krimmel, Kurt McGinnis and Kelli Williams oversee the meetings and help make this organization possible. Each athletics team on campus has two to three mentors involved in S.A.M.s who are nominated by their respective coaches. The mentors are responsible upper-class student athletes, who are assigned three to four freshman athletes to serve as a mentor to. The mentors act as a support system providing open lines of communication for their mentees to come and discuss any problems they may be experiencing with athletics, academics or even socially. All mentors work together to plan monthly activities in order to bring the freshmen student-athletes together with their mentors as well as each other. This month on September 20th at 8pm, all freshmen athletes will attend an event for about an hour to partake in “Minute to Win it” games. S.A.M.s is also working to partner with a boys and girls club in Altoona to take our mentoring one step further into the local community this year.
Women’s Bowling By: Jessica Henri Making history to the 2010-2011 sports is Saint Francis’ women’s bowling team, under head coach Tom Falbo. The team consists of captains Christina Medley, senior, and Emily Knott, junior, along with the fab four freshmen, Heidi Baumert, Jennifer Mueller, Marissa Matassa, and Jessica Henri. Medley and Knott come from the Altoona area, which is a big opportunity for them to really bring bowling into the picture around here. (Continued on back)
Issue #: For [Date] everything
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SAAC Member: Hannah Reist By: Eric Syty
- Year: Junior - Major: Nursing - Sport: Cross Country, Indoor/ Outdoor Track - How she got involved in SAAC: “I think my coach picked me because I am very goal oriented.” - What have you gotten out of SAAC? I like being able to help make decisions that will hopefully help out student athletes at SFU and also I like meeting the people and knowing who to go to if I do have a concern about a student-athlete issue. - One thing people should know about you: “I am not a morning person.” - What has been you favorite college class so far? “My favorite class was actually Spanish in Mexico, but here on campus it was Anatomy and Physiology Lab with Ms. Kirkpatrick.”
You Don’t Have to Run With Them, But Meet The XC Team By: Dani Williams This month’s featured team is the Men and Women’s Cross Country teams. Cross-country is currently in full swing in its 2010 fall season. The men and women’s teams are both ranked in the top five according to the preseason poll with 2nd and 4th finishes respectively. Under the supervision of Coach Gordon Thomson and his staff, both squads are training very hard with practices and competitions. Two key returning runners for the men’s team are Christopher Mills and Timothy Wertner. Mills is a three-time Northeast Conference individual track & field champion who missed the NEC All-Conference by one spot last year. Wertner found great success last year and placed third in the field at NECs. Following behind Mills and Wertner is a strong core group of men that shows great potential for the championship season. On the
Women’s Bowling continued… “I feel like this level of bowling coming to Altoona is a great opportunity for the girls on the team and the future women bowlers”, Christina says. “There are very talented bowlers that are looking for that college experience and in this area, high schools don’t have teams. I do believe that the situation is going to change in the next few years, so opportunities just keep presenting themselves”. From Pennsylvania are bowlers Matassa from Pittsburgh and Mueller of Lewisburg who both helped tremendously with their high school teams. Traveling further from the area are Baumert who came all the way from Lincoln, Nebraska and Henri who hails from Howell, New Jersey. Each girl on the team brings with them state championships and even nationally ranked titles, which is incredible considering the late start this team got. Coach Tom Falbo was hired on May 24th and had a very limited and challenging time to put a team together. “This team is going to be strong”, said Falbo. “In whatever tournament we enter, the team will be competitive. We are facing some of the most talented teams in the country, which will prove to others quickly what SFU bowling is about.” SFU is in the NEC, which in women’s bowling, has many talented teams like: Kutztown University, conference champions, Sacred Heart University, and also the national champions, Fairleigh Dickinson University. Across the country, college bowling is exploding! Every year the women’s NCAA Championship is held on ESPN. While most people take bowling as a joke, they don’t realize how much dedication it really takes. These girls are starting to practice their game three times a week, along with weight training. Every Saturday, the team plans on volunteering at Holiday Bowl to coach the Junior Bowling program. The team overall has been through many obstacles and probably will go through many more to earn their respect. “Every obstacle has an opportunity”, mentioned Falbo. women’s side, returning runner Sarah Grossi was a top ten finisher in 2009. Behind her lead, there is also a strong pack of girls who show ambition and are not willing to settle for another 4th place finish this year. Overall, the outlook for the Men and Women’s team is positive and the bars are set high. With three competitions already behind them, both teams are looking forward to the next competition in Chicago, which is four weeks away from the Northeast Conference Championships.
Editor in Chief: Eric Syty Contributing Editors: Bethany Lanzendoen, Danielle Williams, Catherine Helming, Jessica Henri , Katie Dacanay, and Julia Baczeski
2
The Red
The Official Newsletter of SAAC and SAMs
FLASH S tudent A thlete M entors By: Catherine Helming
Student-Athlete Advisory Committee By: Katie Dacanay SAAC, which stands for Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is one of many active groups on campus. Despite the fact that SAAC is not an organization unique to Saint Francis, many students, faculty, and staff are unaware of how special this committee really is. Often called “the voice of student-athletes,” SAAC consists of two representatives from each of the 22 teams on campus. They meet twice each month with the athletic administrators to discuss sports, academic and community issues. SAAC serves as the main means of communication between student-athletes, the athletic department, and administration. Representatives are also further divided into subcommittees so that the organization can be more involved in different activities. SAAC does more than the administrative business tasks. One mission is to organize community service events, for example the Northeast Conference Penny War, which raises money for cancer, and the Alicia Richardson Sports 4 Kids Day. Most importantly, it is a unifying group that brings Saint Francis Athletics together as a family. SAAC representatives keep each other updated on how their teams are progressing as well as make plans to support each other at big games. These student-athletes are dedicated to making Saint Francis Athletics better and better every year. The officers for this year are: Maria Penksa (President), Paul Print (Vice President), Julia Baczeski (Secretary) and Catherine Helming (Treasurer).
Many of you probably have never heard of or even seen this organization in the past years, but everything is changing this year including the direction of SAMs. S.A.M.s stands for Student Athlete Mentors, a group of athletes who come together to mentor all freshmen student-athletes. There are five executive board members who help lead the program: Chad Martson, Rachel Capizzi, Catherine Helming, Madison Madore, and Ryan Revtai. Also, the Student-Athlete Development personnel, John Krimmel, Kurt McGinnis and Kelli Williams oversee the meetings and help make this organization possible. Each athletics team on campus has two to three mentors involved in S.A.M.s who are nominated by their respective coaches. The mentors are responsible upper-class student athletes, who are assigned three to four freshman athletes to serve as a mentor to. The mentors act as a support system providing open lines of communication for their mentees to come and discuss any problems they may be experiencing with athletics, academics or even socially. All mentors work together to plan monthly activities in order to bring the freshmen student-athletes together with their mentors as well as each other. This month on September 20th at 8pm, all freshmen athletes will attend an event for about an hour to partake in “Minute to Win it” games. S.A.M.s is also working to partner with a boys and girls club in Altoona to take our mentoring one step further into the local community this year.
Women’s Bowling By: Jessica Henri Making history to the 2010-2011 sports is Saint Francis’ women’s bowling team, under head coach Tom Falbo. The team consists of captains Christina Medley, senior, and Emily Knott, junior, along with the fab four freshmen, Heidi Baumert, Jennifer Mueller, Marissa Matassa, and Jessica Henri. Medley and Knott come from the Altoona area, which is a big opportunity for them to really bring bowling into the picture around here. (Continued on back)
Issue #: For [Date] everything
Dolor Sit Amet RED FLASH, visit goredflash.com today!
SAAC Member: Hannah Reist By: Eric Syty
- Year: Junior - Major: Nursing - Sport: Cross Country, Indoor/ Outdoor Track - How she got involved in SAAC: “I think my coach picked me because I am very goal oriented.” - What have you gotten out of SAAC? I like being able to help make decisions that will hopefully help out student athletes at SFU and also I like meeting the people and knowing who to go to if I do have a concern about a student-athlete issue. - One thing people should know about you: “I am not a morning person.” - What has been you favorite college class so far? “My favorite class was actually Spanish in Mexico, but here on campus it was Anatomy and Physiology Lab with Ms. Kirkpatrick.”
You Don’t Have to Run With Them, But Meet The XC Team By: Dani Williams This month’s featured team is the Men and Women’s Cross Country teams. Cross-country is currently in full swing in its 2010 fall season. The men and women’s teams are both ranked in the top five according to the preseason poll with 2nd and 4th finishes respectively. Under the supervision of Coach Gordon Thomson and his staff, both squads are training very hard with practices and competitions. Two key returning runners for the men’s team are Christopher Mills and Timothy Wertner. Mills is a three-time Northeast Conference individual track & field champion who missed the NEC All-Conference by one spot last year. Wertner found great success last year and placed third in the field at NECs. Following behind Mills and Wertner is a strong core group of men that shows great potential for the championship season. On the
Women’s Bowling continued… “I feel like this level of bowling coming to Altoona is a great opportunity for the girls on the team and the future women bowlers”, Christina says. “There are very talented bowlers that are looking for that college experience and in this area, high schools don’t have teams. I do believe that the situation is going to change in the next few years, so opportunities just keep presenting themselves”. From Pennsylvania are bowlers Matassa from Pittsburgh and Mueller of Lewisburg who both helped tremendously with their high school teams. Traveling further from the area are Baumert who came all the way from Lincoln, Nebraska and Henri who hails from Howell, New Jersey. Each girl on the team brings with them state championships and even nationally ranked titles, which is incredible considering the late start this team got. Coach Tom Falbo was hired on May 24th and had a very limited and challenging time to put a team together. “This team is going to be strong”, said Falbo. “In whatever tournament we enter, the team will be competitive. We are facing some of the most talented teams in the country, which will prove to others quickly what SFU bowling is about.” SFU is in the NEC, which in women’s bowling, has many talented teams like: Kutztown University, conference champions, Sacred Heart University, and also the national champions, Fairleigh Dickinson University. Across the country, college bowling is exploding! Every year the women’s NCAA Championship is held on ESPN. While most people take bowling as a joke, they don’t realize how much dedication it really takes. These girls are starting to practice their game three times a week, along with weight training. Every Saturday, the team plans on volunteering at Holiday Bowl to coach the Junior Bowling program. The team overall has been through many obstacles and probably will go through many more to earn their respect. “Every obstacle has an opportunity”, mentioned Falbo. women’s side, returning runner Sarah Grossi was a top ten finisher in 2009. Behind her lead, there is also a strong pack of girls who show ambition and are not willing to settle for another 4th place finish this year. Overall, the outlook for the Men and Women’s team is positive and the bars are set high. With three competitions already behind them, both teams are looking forward to the next competition in Chicago, which is four weeks away from the Northeast Conference Championships.
Editor in Chief: Eric Syty Contributing Editors: Bethany Lanzendoen, Danielle Williams, Catherine Helming, Jessica Henri , Katie Dacanay, and Julia Baczeski
2
