The Observer, September 26, 2008
Volume XLI, Issue 5
Case student athletes put on a clinic
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In the breakfast room of Daniel E. Morgan Elementary School last Friday, students were already asking when they were leaving. They were getting out early that day to go to the Case for Community Day Sports Clinic, a three-and-a-half hour event featuring six stations of sports skills (basketball, football, soccer, track and field, and volleyball) and a pizza lunch. And when the buses were 20 minutes late arriving to the school, a five-minute drive northwest of campus, kids were nervous the sports clinic was cancelled.
"To be out of school and to be able to play outside – that's a double bonus," said Teri Walton, the parent liaison at Daniel Morgan, as she passed out water to students thirsty from a flag football game. "We enjoy it immensely."
For Latisha James, director of community relations, the fun and games are a tool to get some 250 students from five of Cleveland's public elementary schools on to Case's campus. "It plants a seed for them to see themselves in college one day. It's subliminal messaging," said James with a laugh.
The clinic was organized and operated by the Case Association of Student Athletes (CASA). Andrea Wojtowicz, CASA's community service chair and a junior volleyball player, said that planning for the clinic started at the end of August. She estimated 60 student athletes volunteered. Each of the 35-minute stations was saturated with volunteers. "It looks like all of them are having a good time," she said.
At the end of the day, students were given medallions from Case's Center for Community Partnerships and drawstring backpacks from CASA.
Absent from the sports clinic was the men's basketball team. They were hard at work off campus in Cleveland's Buckeye neighborhood, assisting the Buckeye Area Development Corporation with a large-scale landscaping project around model homes in the neighborhood. This marked the fifth year that the team worked on a substantial off-campus project.
"For the last five years our players have made a positive impact on Cleveland's East Side during Case for Community Day," said the team's head coach, Sean McDonnell. "The event has always provided our team with a forum where they've been able to help others, bond as a team, and have a good time meeting members of the local community. I continue to be proud of their efforts."
"The basketball team; they're the best," said James. Last Friday marked the sixth annual Case for Community day.
Case Sports Information contributed information to this article.
