On the morning of October 8, 2005, an earthquake rumbled violently through parts of Pakistan and India, leaving about 80,000 people dead and nearly three million homeless.

Even though he was thousands of miles away at the time, Billy Blaustein, a Colorado College football student-athlete, felt the effects of the 7.6 magnitude quake – so much so that he wanted to do something to help.

Blaustein was a sophomore at Colorado College, taking a year off to recuperate from an injury and surgery at home in his native California and also coaching high school football. Moved by the enormity of the tragedy, he launched an effort to purchase tents and sleeping bags for the victims.

The initiative, which generated about $3,500, was the beginning of a unique outreach organization. Like a well-coached offense that adjusts to a defensive strategy, it has quickly evolved into an international presence providing opportunities, knowledge and hope through sport.

Blaustein’s brainchild has come a long way in the three years since it was established. After he returned to Colorado College, the Tiger fullback re-established the organization on campus, renamed it “Cover One International” and invited other student-athletes to join. Currently numbering about 40 student-athletes, Cover One works with third-graders at a Colorado Springs elementary school to provide after-school athletics programming and football and soccer clinics led by varsity student-athletes.

Even as the local projects are ongoing, Cover One recently expanded its reach across the globe. A contingent of eight Cover One volunteers, including Blaustein and six of his fellow Colorado College student-athletes, is fresh off a month-long mission to Honduras, where they hosted sports and health clinics for children and women. The outreach was made possible by a $10,000 grant from The Davis Projects for Peace and funds raised by Cover One through the sale of BuyWell Fair Trade organic coffee.

Blaustein, Max Green, Misael Fernandez, Ericka Baer, Jason Steiert, Katlin Okamoto, Alina Ford and Jocelyn Corbett were based in the city of La Esperanza. Four days a week for three weeks, they made the 22-mile, 90-minute trip over rough terrain to a school in the small municipality of San Miguelito, where they tutored about 50 children in soccer, volleyball and football.

The sports clinic was coupled with daily health lessons on topics ranging from nutrition, sleep, and exercise to HIV, diabetes and mental health.

“An aspect of it was using sports as a vehicle to motivate kids to stay on top of their bodies and their health,” said Blaustein.

In addition, Cover One volunteers trained teachers at the schools to coach the sports covered in the clinic and how use the equipment that would be left behind. They also brought coaching manuals that had been translated into Spanish. During the fourth week, Cover One hosted a community-wide barbecue and tournament featuring each of the sports and also presented each child with a medal.

Blaustein and company stayed in La Esperanza each Friday during the mission to run a soccer-only clinic for women in the city’s municipal stadium. Like the outreach in San Miguelito, sport was used as a lead-in to talk about health issues, with a particular focus on positive relationships and sex education. About 25 women ages 16 to 40 participated in the clinic.

The goal, said Blaustein, was to empower women personally and athletically since playing, coaching and training opportunities are so rare for them there. In addition, he pointed to the high rates of teen pregnancy, domestic abuse and related challenges in La Esperanza as another motivator for the clinic.

“We feel like sports is empowering and people can feel more confident about themselves through participation in sports,” Blaustein said.

The women’s outreach was so popular that the group has been invited back to La Esperanza next January to host another clinic, a possibility that Blaustein is currently investigating. He’s also interested in dispatching a group of Cover One volunteers to Kenya, the group’s original destination this year before civil unrest broke out. As plans for more mission trips and outreach projects move forward, Blaustein said he envisions extending opportunities to student-athletes at other institutions to get involved.

“I feel like this is something that could continue,” he said. “I’d love to get other schools to come and just have collegiate athletes from around the country coming together to do this stuff abroad.”

Blaustein is an international political economics major who plans to graduate next May. For more information about Cover One International, visit www.coveroneinternational.org.