TicketsAug. 15, 2010
By Shawn Sell
GoBEARCATS.com
One of the pillars of the University of Cincinnati's CATAPULT initiative is Togetherness and it speaks to the importance of Bearcat student-athletes and coaches being active and visible in the Greater Cincinnati community. UC Volleyball took a break from its preseason training last week to promote togetherness by spending time at the Drop Inn Center in downtown Cincinnati.
The 16 members of the 2010 team along with their coaches were able to give back to the community by serving nearly 100 lunches at the Center. The UC netters were also able to spend time with the residents and visitors, signing autographs for their new friends during the trip downtown.
"I love doing stuff like this," says UC senior and co-captain Stephanie Niemer. "I did something like this in high school and it's great because the people are really nice. It's fun for us too because we get to interact with them and talk to them. It's a great chance for us to think about how good we have it and not take things for granted."
While the trip to the Center was about doing good and interacting with members of the community, assistant coach Myanna Hellsten says the opportunity was also good for team bonding, as well as getting to know the six Bearcat newcomers in an environment away from volleyball.
"It was a very cool experience from our perspective as coaches, especially because we don't know the six freshmen very well yet," she says. "To see everyone interact in that situation not only with each other as teammates but with strangers and other people, we were impressed with how personable some of our players are."
"We always look forward to the days off because we get to have some sort of team bonding experience," Niemer adds. "Like this, it is usually something fun that we all enjoy."
During UC's match on September 24th against Seton Hall, the Bearcats will celebrate Hunger and Homeless Awareness Night where fans are being asked to join with the student-athletes in support of the Drop Inn Center. A collection to benefit the organization will take place prior to the match and UC followers are asked to donate either monetarily or with items such as toiletries and gently used clothing on that night to benefit the Drop Inn Center.
"Our visit last week was kind of in correlation with event we have coming up," Hellsten says. "We wanted our girls to go out and see the people that we are going to help through one of our matches."
The Bearcats, who just last week were unanimously picked as the preseason BIG EAST favorites will continue their preseason this week in preparation for the annual Alumni Match on Saturday, August 21st. Regular season action kicks off on Friday, August 27th at San Diego State's Aztec Invitational.