Community service and college athletics go hand in hand. If schools want the community to support their teams, their teams need to support the community. But as time-management issues are scrutinized, activities such as community service might be subtracted from a bigger equation to reduce student-athlete time commitments outside the 20 countable hours of athletically related activity each week.

Specifically, community service, when performed in conjunction with the team and required by the coach, is part of the dialogue about what the 20-hour rule should include and what schools and coaches have a right to expect. The issue boils down to voluntary vs. mandatory participation.

Rachel Caliga, a basketball student-athlete at Regis University (Colorado), said she finds community service rewarding but, "It is expected by our coaches and by the NCAA, and it is more or less just another time commitment."

"Doing community service can be stressful during certain times of the year," said Julianna Bayley, a volleyball student-athlete, also at Regis. "It is hard to enjoy something when it adds more stress."

But according to Katie Groke, former soccer player at the University of Wyoming and the vice-chair of the Division I SAAC, community service itself is OK; it's the expectation that is unwelcome. Few student-athletes turn down opportunities to give back to their communities, but when it becomes required, the good-naturedness of the effort can be dampened.

"Student-athletes like to do community service, but sometimes it just all adds up," Groke said.

Groke noted that community service doesn't always have to be time-consuming. Food and clothing drives are ways to contribute to the community without sacrificing precious hours.

While student-athletes might look at community service almost as a blessing and a curse, administrators often look at it as an important public relations tool. And when their campus SAAC wins school service awards, it makes for positive recognition. In recent years, more and more athletics departments have made it their goal to attain such acclaim.

"The administration has not set any particular goals for us to reach as far as the number of activities planned or number of athletes participating," said Janna Murgia, who arranges community-service projects for student-athletes at the University of Arizona. "With that being said, there is of course always an implicit push to do as many things with as many student-athletes as possible."

Murgia said several coaches actually require a set number of hours that their players must perform community service.

"We all feel that student-athletes are blessed with talent and ability and want to give something back to the community that has supported them through scholarships and attendance at games and events," said Carol Wissman, an administrator at the University of Cincinnati.

In 2002, Cincinnati received the Just Community Award, the highest honor awarded to a student organization at the university. Wissman said a Habitat for Humanity project performed in 2002 brought the school and program "a lot of positive press in television, the newspaper and even The NCAA News."

The NCAA News, in fact, which routinely publishes photos of community-service projects, has seen a dramatic increase over the years in the number of submissions for such publicity. As the time-demand issue has evolved, the editorial staff has discussed the balance between portraying student-athletes in a favorable light and creating photo opportunities that consume student-athletes' time. No policy changes have been made.

Alsointeresting is the fact that several NCAA awards have a community-service component attached to them, which adds to the required vs. voluntary discussion.

While many athletics departments need all the positive press they can get, the projects ultimately may be more valuable to the student-athletes. Community service can help strike down the pampered-athlete perception in the community and on campus.

Murgia said service projects coordinated by athletics departments and readily available to student-athletes give them ways to acquire transferable skills and experiences they might otherwise miss out on with their tight schedules.

Oliver Pertuit, a soccer student-athlete at Regis, has discovered how personally rewarding community service can be.

"We ref soccer games and it is very worthwhile being around little kids," he said. "It teaches you about responsibility. I have learned that it is important to volunteer."

No matter where community service figures into the 20-hour rule, it is certain to remain an integral part of the student-athlete experience. Lightening the load in other areas might lead to more student-athletes taking on volunteer opportunities. Until that outcome is determined, though, Wissman and Murgia have wisdom to pass along to other community-service coordinators in the membership.

Wissman said her program has found success by letting student-athletes pick their projects so that they will have a vested interest in their successful completion. Murgia added that strategizing projects that suit most student-athletes' schedules will maximize the benefits to the project performed.

In the end, it's the personal growth that student-athletes can take with them long after their playing careers are over.

"Community service made me more aware of people needier than me," Bayley said. "Now, instead of throwing things away, I will donate them."

Molly Marrin, a basketball student-athlete at Regis University (Colorado) contributed to this story.