Amherst College Student Athlete Advisory Committee

Below are the minutes from our Dec 10th Meeting

Amherst College
Student-Athletic Advisory Committee Meeting #1
December 10, 2006, 7:00 pm

● Introduction (Chris Paradis, Advisor)

● Introduction of members

● General issues members were interested in:
            Fans at games
            Publicity
            Fostering relationship between athletes and non-athletes
            Bridging gap between athletes and administrators
            Relationship between athletics and academics
            Perspective of international students in athletics on campus
            Combat stigma of being an athlete in an academic community
            Breadth and depth of participation in athletics across the board
            More support to find/improve coaching staff
            General support of Amherst Athletics
            Student-athletes conversing with one another

● Setting groundwork this year to be able to do more in near future

● Took at look at handout of membership….SAAC at the NCAA, NESCAC and on-campus levels

● Serve as liaison between athletic department and our teams

● Pilot group concept – technically, this committee doesn’t officially exist, and it is the pilot group         who will help get us up and running

● 3 sub-committees (Chairs gave overviews of what each committee will be working on)

A.  Constitution and Bylaws (Noah Isserman)
Going to be fun
            Membership selection
Establishment of policies governing group

B.  Publicity and Spirit (Alec Goldfield)
            Raise awareness of teams, games, notable performances
            Bulletin board in student center or valentine
            Build and maintain SAAC website

C.  Sportsmanship Initiative (Lauren Benson)
            Push to get fans out to all teams
            Positive fan behavior and support
            Establish positive relationship w/players and people attending games
            Cheering at games (being respectful and positive)

● A question came up at to whether we will establish a sub-committee to address student-athletes’ relationship with administration (mostly academic). Suzanne Coffey addressed this issue. She mentioned that by creating this group we are sending a clear message to the administration that we are serious about discussing such issues; also, we need to get these first areas going, and this will prepare us well to deal with other very important issues as they arise.

● The group then assembled into three smaller sub-groups to brainstorm ideas and goals in relation to the three areas defined earlier

● We then reconvened and shared ideas that were generated

Publicity (Alec)
            Goals developed
            Fan of the week (competitiveness)
            Athlete of the week
            Fan apparel idea (overall shirt – creates unity)
            Bulletin board updates
            Website build/design/update – up and running by February

Constitution and Bylaws (Noah)
            Looked at Brown and Trinity examples
            Policies have to reflect reality and work to change
            Powerful vehicle for change if done efficiently and effectively
            Maximize group effort and minimize wasted time

Sportsmanship Initiative (Lauren)
            Main goal: working on making ground at basketball games this winter
            Want to show we only tolerate positive cheering
Incentives (rally towels or t-shirts)
Want ideas to spread to teams and athletes as well

● Coach Paradis discussed that the committees are not permanent, and that ideas should be willing to be shared freely between all members.

● Next Meeting: Sunday, February 11th @ 7pm (sub-committees are meeting prior to this)

● This Pilot Group is a one year commitment, and we are excited for everyone’s involvement in this process. The idea would be that some of the members will carry over to next year’s SAAC, but of course this will be determined by our new bylaws and how we decide members are selected and replaced.

A very productive meeting!!! Thank you all for your time.

Meeting adjourned:  8:11pm

Minutes: Stephen Stewart ‘09