CSR (VOLLEYBALL TEAM HELPS OUT IN ST. LOUIS - ATTENDS CHAMPIONSHIPS BANQUET)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR November 19, 2010
VOLLEYBALL TEAM HELPS OUT IN ST. LOUIS - ATTENDS CHAMPIONSHIPS BANQUET
By Sports Information Student Assistant Mitch Blankespoor
ST. LOUIS, MO - The Calvin College women’s volleyball team has succeeded on
the court this season. They won a share of the MIAA conference championship
for the first time since 2008. They have reached the Elite Eight for the first
time since 1992 with a stunning upset victory over 2nd ranked Wittenberg
University at Wittenberg’s Pam Evan’s Smith Arena last week Saturday. The
Knight’s have not only succeeded on the court this year. On Thursday
afternoon, Calvin went to a crisis care nursery center in St. Louis to spend
time with the kids there. The event was set up by the NCAA as part of its
community service outreach program at NCAA Championship events.
The first part of the time spent there was getting to know the kids. They
were so longing for attention, and the Knights gave just that. Calvin senior
setter Carolyn Nelson had a young child attached to her basically the whole
time. She spoke about the day.
“We got up and had a great breakfast. It was really interesting to see the
different teams there because we are not familiar with them. We had a little
bit of downtime in the hotel, and then we went straight to the gym. We got a
tour of the facility, which are awesome. We saw the sport court, and got
really excited to get in the gym again. After practice, we had just enough
time to squeeze in some lunch before heading to the nursery. It was an awesome
day playing with the kids.”
The crisis center is a chain of relief centers that started in St. Louis over
25 years ago. They normally take in children for one or two days when their
parents cannot or do not have time to care for them. They served over 7,000
children last year between the five different locations. The particular
location Calvin was at could house 14 children at a time. There is often a
huge waiting list. To ensure safety, there is at least one caretaker up all 24
hours of the day.
“The best thing about this care center is the kids just running around having
a great time. Seeing the smiles of there faces and knowing that they are in a
face place is really comforting” sophomore Kim Start said.
There were other things that needed to be done other than keeping the kids
entertained. Folding laundry, cleaning up after the children, and keeping the
building in good shape just name a few.
The children were wild. Senior Kayla Hollenbeck had a great time.
“Today we got to go to a kid’s nursery and spend time and play with the kids.
We took turns playing with the kids and organizing clothes upstairs. It was
really fun just getting to know the kids. They had a fun zipping up our
jackets and pulling down our hoods. It was a great time.”
Later Thursday night, the team attended a championships banquet in downtown
St. Louis where senior Kim Wigboldy and junior Erin Vander Plas gave a speech
on behalf of the team. In addition, junior Rebecca Kamp was honored as an AVCA
first team All-American while freshman Megan Rietema was presented with the
AVCA Division III National Freshman of the Year Award.
Calvin opens up play against the University of Massachusetts at Boston on
Friday at 3pm Central Standard Time.
WIGBOLDY/VANDERPLAS SPEECH:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/audio/10/Volleyball/kimerinspeech.mp3
CHAMPIONSHIPS BANQUET PHOTO GALLERY:
http://bearsports.wustl.edu/Sports/Content/Pages/PhotoGalleryDetail.aspx?PhotoSet=2010%20NCAA%20Volleyball%20Banquet
Received on Fri Nov 19 07:59:57 2010