Welcome to the first-ever ASUN Student-Athlete Advisory Committee newsletter which will give an overview of what ASUN SAAC has been doing over the past semester, highlighting some of our member institutions, and upcoming events and campaigns. Moving forward, every January and June we will release a newsletter to keep all those interested in our initiatives and actions. For more information about specific institutions, please check out individual member institution newsletters & twitter accounts.
Priorities for ASUN SAAC
Community Engagement
The ASUN Conference has four Beams (Students First, Impact, Connect and Rise), which are used to guide the conference in decision making and promoting the student-athlete experience. To learn more about our Beams, click here. This year, ASUN SAAC decided to focus on the Beam ‘Connect’ which emphasizes our connection with various communities. We connect with these communities in a variety of ways, from going to Boys and Girls clubs as a community service activity during our in-person meetings to our Annual Canned Food Drive.
Our drive this year brought in a total of over 12,000 non-perishable food items, all donated to local food pantries. In our upcoming in-person meeting, we will be helping package food with Rise Against Hunger. More information about specific community service activities can be gathered from our Beam Video Series, which highlights each of our member institutions and how they connect with their local communities.
Provide Opportunities for Student-Athlete Engagement and Development
Student-Athlete engagement is very important to the ASUN, which is why each sport has a sports specific committee with up to four (4) student-athletes on each one (6 for cross country/track and field) in order for student-athletes to have a direct line of communication to the conference for all matters regarding their sport. Furthermore, student-athletes can be found on nearly all committees within the ASUN so as our input is heard on all levels. Within SAAC specifically, there are several opportunities for direct engagement, such as our in-person meetings and executive positions.
We also pride ourselves in providing opportunities for personal, professional and leadership development for our athletes. We also bring in guest speakers to our meetings and conduct leadership and communication training for attendees while our member institutions also bring in individuals to their on campus meetings. Furthermore, training is provided to student-athletes on how to advertise themselves and their time in SAAC and as an athlete, especially when looking for jobs. At the ASUN Conference Management Committee Meetings, the student-athlete voice is represented by two SAAC Officers in attendance alongside University Presidents, Athletic Directors, SWAs, FARs and Conference Staff.,Every year we send two members of the ASUN Conference to the NCAA Leadership Forum, where athletes take part in a multi-day seminar, learning how to develop better leadership skills and build a better awareness of themselves. This forum brings in athletes from all divisions and conferences in the NCAA giving attendees a unique opportunity to come into contact with people from many different back grounds and personalities.
Protecting Student-Athlete Well-Being
Aside from committees on sports, ASUN SAAC also encourages and promotes student-athlete well-being through various means, such as social media campaigns focusing on mental health and bringing in individuals to present on how to help promote well-being and positive body image. Through discussion, at in-person meetings and on calls, we have developed ways in which we can promote well-being on our campuses through open discussions and destigmatizing issues which impact us every day. We will be doing this at the end of January with our Mental Health campaign, with more info on that found below.
Encourage Conference Camaraderie
The ASUN Conference is made up of a wide variety of schools, so ASUN SAAC has felt it necessary to encourage camaraderie within the conference during competition, especially during post season competition on the national level. This has been done by emphasizing post conference competitions and performances by both individuals and institutions on social media and encouraging engagement by other athletes.
Fall Semester Recap
The fall of 2019 proved to be very productive for us. To start with, the conference collected more cans for our annual canned food drive than ever before, continuing with our exponential growth from last year. And for two years in a row, Stetson University has come out on top, collecting the most cans out of any institution of the conference. Our first three Beam videos for this year were released featuring FGCU, North Alabama and Stetson, check those out on the ASUN website. Keep an eye out for all our other Beam videos, throughout the rest of the year.
Outside of community service, each of our member institutions participated in the NCAA’s Diversity and Inclusion social media campaign. The campaign highlights the differences between the athletes within the NCAA and how each university and program emphasizes and includes these differences. In regards to the ASUN specifically, our social media coordinator, Cortney VanLiew, puts out content regularly with motivational quotes from each of our institutions and will highlight a different member of ASUN SAAC frequently to help our followers get to know each of us, and to show that we are all more than just athletes.
On a more administrative and legislative level, the fall was very productive for us. The aforementioned sports specific committees used to consist of only two athletes each, but over the past year, we have expanded this to the current capacity. Over the fall, we have worked to fill these spots with various athletes from our schools to ensure diverse and varied input. All member institutions have also provided vital feedback to the ASUN Conference to take to the Division I level regarding new pieces of legislation. This is one of the most important aspects of SAAC at all levels as it can drastically alter the student-athlete experience in many ways, so input from all levels are necessary to ensure policy on the national level is made in the best interest of all student-athletes.
Upcoming Events
Mental Health Campaign (Jan. 28-30)
Last year, ASUN SAAC kicked off our first ever independent Mental Health Campaign, separate from any NCAA or other conference initiative. This was, in part, due to the fall being used heavily for community service engagement, so we decided the spring was time to focus on student-athlete well-being. The conference and our member institutions will hit social media during these three days to get as much engagement with people, opening up discussion not only on mental health awareness, but in ways people can cope with mental health issues.
Winter In-Person Meetings (Jan. 31 – Feb. 1)
Representatives of our member institutions will be arriving in Kennesaw State University for our Winter Meetings, where we will go over things that have been affecting the conference, such as NCAA legislation and new membership. We will also discuss future initiatives and review championships of the fall sports.
Project Life Movement (Throughout Spring Semester)
Project Life Movement is a group which works to get people into a bone marrow donation registry in order to help find matches for people who may need bone marrow transplants, as it is difficult to find matches. We have partnered with Project Life for several years and each of our member institutions are planning dates for on campus registration drives. More Information about Project Life Movement.
Closing Remarks by ASUN SAAC Chair Ahmed Amaar
Approaching the conclusion of my 4th year serving on ASUN SAAC, the growth I’ve witnessed has been astounding. Our Social Media team has done a tremendous job growing our digital presence of SAAC. From highlighting intra-conference success athletically, to executing our highly-successful mental health week - I could have never imagined this forming in less than four years, and we owe that to the creativity and dedication of our past two Social Media Coordinators, Rachel Noble (2018-2019), and Cortney VanLiew (2019-Present).
Through our partnership with Project Life over the last three years, ASUN institutions have put thousands of people on the bone marrow registry. As a result, we have already found a life-saving match in the process! This group is committed to helping & impacting as many people as possible. Something that would not have been possible without the unwavering commitment & diligent dedication of every single member of this group.
Every year, ASUN SAAC has been able to elevate its impact on the community and taken on more responsibility to achieve more. Our Conference prides itself on its excellence in athletics, academics, and I have never worked with a more hard-working group of people. While I am sad that my term is coming to an end as Chair, I am beyond excited for the future of this group, the amazing things they will achieve, and the lives they will impact.
Thank you all for reading our first of many newsletters to be released. We hope that this has helped keep all informed of the work we are doing here at the ASUN Conference. As mentioned before, for any information regarding the activities of our member institutions, please check out their newsletters and social media pages.