Schools turn individual projects into collective relief effort

After the December 26 tsunami that devastated parts of southeast Asia and killed more than 300,000 people, relief poured in from all corners of the world, including from a number of NCAA member schools and conferences. The Presidents' Athletic Conference, for example, netted more than $1,000 during men's and women's basketball doubleheaders on two separate days.

On January 24, men's and women's teams from Grove City College, Thiel College and Westminster (Pennsylvania) each played host to conference foes Bethany College, Washington and Jefferson College and Waynesburg College. A second trio of doubleheaders February 12 featured the same six PAC schools.

The conference-wide effort was the brainchild of J.D. Collar, a senior basketball student-athlete at Grove City.

"I was sitting in church and it came to me that we all have an opportunity to give back some of what we have been blessed with," he said. "I thought a conference-wide effort to help those suffering from the recent tsunami could be a great way to do that."

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A near personal disaster for one of its team members inspired the Mount Olive College tennis teams to contribute to the relief initiative through a tennis clinic.

Senior tennis student-athlete Samanthi Wijesekera was at home in Colombo, Sri Lanka, for Christmas break when the tsunami hit. Although Wijesekera's family lives on the opposite coast from where the wave made landfall, she and some friends had planned to travel to the beaches in the area for a barbecue on the day the tsunami struck. Those plans were canceled, though, after she received a call relaying news of the unfolding disaster. It was Wijesekera's close call that motivated the team to organize and host the clinic, which resulted in nearly $1,000 in aid.

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The men's and women's track and field teams at Emory decided to donate a portion of their annual fund-raiser to the international relief effort. The squads have held a Fund Run for years as a way to raise money for new equipment. On this year's list was upgrading uniforms and purchasing a new team record board. But the group decided that children affected by the tsunami needed the funds more.

As part of the effort, each member of the team sought sponsors who would donate a specific amount for each lap (400 meters) completed during the one-hour event. The run generated $3,850, which was turned over to UNICEF's tsunami relief fund.

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A department-wide effort by coaches and student-athletes at Hobart and William Smith Colleges generated more than $5,000 for Save the Children, an organization that has been supplying basic necessities to tsunami survivors.

The initiative was spearheaded by head sailing coach Scott Ikle, who explained that the squad was getting new boats and sails in the spring, and the factory where the sails were manufactured was located in Sri Lanka, just an hour from the heart of the disaster.

"We are so fortunate that we have the gift of new equipment, and I stopped and thought of the people who made our sails. All of them were fine, but all had lost or were missing family members. Here we are in Geneva, New York, and we know someone who was affected. I felt we had do so something," Ikle said.

Initially, the coach challenged his team by offering to match dollar for dollar what they collected if each member of the squad contributed. When other coaches in the athletics department caught wind of the challenge, they also became involved. In the end, every coach and student-athlete had made a donation. The gift was further bolstered by Hobart trustee Tom Poole, who matched exactly half of all proceeds that were raised to help the school present $5,269.54 to Save the Children's relief efforts.

Williams softball player earns international acclaim

Former Williams College softball standout Laura Brenneman drew international recognition earlier this year when she was named as the 2004 Woman Baseball Player of the Year by the International Baseball Federation Executive Committee.

A member of the USA Women's National Baseball Team for the past three years, Brenneman scored 10 runs, batted .579 and stole five bases to help Team USA capture a gold medal in the first IBAF World Cup of Women's Baseball in Alberta, Canada, this summer. The Cup's MVP also recorded 12 putouts and 17 assists during the tournament, which featured teams from six countries.

Brenneman was a three-sport student-athlete at Williams, earning all-New England Small College Athletic Conference honors in soccer, basketball and softball. She currently is completing a doctorate in astrophysics at the University of Maryland, College Park.

-- Compiled by Leilana McKindra

Number crunching

Looking back

10 years ago

Here's what was making NCAA news in March 1995:

• The House Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education, Training and Lifelong Learning says it will hold a hearing in May to re-examine Title IX and the enforcement policy of the Office for Civil Rights. The hearing will be an oversight hearing rather than one on specific proposals to amend the law. Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, has been working with men's nonrevenue coaches associations in organizing the House hearing. Some of those associations, such as the National Wrestling Coaches Association, say their sports are being red-lined for discontinuation at an increasing number of institutions under the guise of gender-equity plans.

• Also regarding Title IX, a federal judge rules that Brown University is in violation of Title IX and gives the institution 120 days to develop a comprehensive compliance plan. The case was filed in 1992 after the university demoted the women's volleyball and gymnastics teams from varsity to club status at the same time the men's water polo and golf teams were demoted.

• The NCAA Administrative Committee determines that prospects taking the SAT after April 1 will need a score of 820 to be eligible for participation in intercollegiate athletics. The score is approximately equivalent to a combined math and verbal score of 700 under the old scoring system. The change was made necessary because of a new scoring system in use by the Educational Testing System for the SAT.

• Southwest Conference Commissioner Steve Hatchell is selected as the first commissioner of the newly aligned Big 12 Conference, which combines the current members of the Big Eight and four members of the soon-to-disband SWC.

• The NCAA Presidents Commission votes to support a plan to restructure the Association in a way that would provide more autonomy for each division and would give presidents and chancellors primary decision-making authority.