 |
Senior water polo athlete Allison Houseal is the president of Maryland's SAAC and also works tirelessly to bring the concerns and opinions of all ACC student-athletes to the Division I SAAC as a national representative. Houseal took a few minutes to chat with theACC.com about SAAC's initiatives and her experiences. |
What is the overall goal of Maryland's SAAC?
Our goal is to better the experience of all Maryland student-athletes. One goal that we've had over the past two years specifically is to focus on the leadership of our student-athletes, starting with our SAAC reps to set the example for the rest of the student-athletes.
How is your SAAC set up?
We have an executive board made up of a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and public relations officer. When we have certain events, we have student-athletes willing to form committees to organize those events. We don't have, for example, a public relations committee. As projects come up, we form committees for those specifically.
 |
SAAC Treasurer Charlie Pinto and President Allie Houseal present the Honor Agreement book at the Welcome Back Picnic. |
Two years ago, we switched to having all of the team captains be our SAAC representatives. However, because many of our team captains are seniors, we're running into the problem this year of not having many returning next year, so we've decided to go back to our original structure. While we will still have team captains, we will make sure that we always have underclassmen who could continue on the next year.
What are the recurring community service programs that SAAC sponsors?
We do a canned food drive every year for Maryland Madness. This year we collected many more cans than we have in the past, due to a big effort to really get the word out to our campus and to our season ticket holders. Every spring, we participate in Relay for Life. We also do Terp Reading, where student-athletes sign up for time slots and go to surrounding elementary schools and read.
This year, we teamed up with Marketing and did a Terps Trick-or-Treat event. There was a basketball game on Halloween, and a lot of our student-athletes dressed up in costumes and passed out candy to the kids at the game.
Are there certain events that tend to be the favorite among student-athletes to participate in?
I would say that Terp Reading is a special one. I don't think student-athletes realize how rewarding the experience is until they participate in it. They don't realize how excited the kids get until they walk into the classroom, and it's something that they usually end up participating in again.
What student-athlete welfare issues is SAAC focusing on?
Last year, we created an honor book, including an honor agreement and pledge that we put into effect this past fall. It basically holds us accountable for our actions, focusing on aspects that we feel are important: academics, athletics, sportsmanship, conduct, leadership, and community. The pledge has been put up in all of our locker rooms as a constant reminder that being positive role models is very important.
What programs does SAAC sponsor for the student-athletes?
Every fall, we have a student-athlete welcome back picnic, which I think all the student-athletes look forward to. It's just a time for all of us to come together and catch up. Our president, athletic director, and SAAC president make speeches. It just gets everyone excited for the year and builds a sense of camaraderie. We also have a team speaker every fall that all the student-athletes are required to attend. In the past, we've had such topics as sports gambling, which was really interesting. This year, we had an etiquette speaker, which was good for career development.
 |
Terrapin student-athletes collect canned goods at the annual canned food drive during Maryland Madness. |
How did you personally get so involved with SAAC?
I got involved with campus SAAC during my sophomore year because my team needed a new rep. I got on to the exec board my junior year and am the campus president and ACC representative to the national SAAC this year. Over the past few years, I've seen SAAC grow and our student-athletes have become much more involved. It's been an exciting time.
Can you talk about your time as the president of Maryland's SAAC and as the ACC representative to the national committee?
Doing both has been a lot of work and very challenging. It has been a lot of fun, though, to meet student-athletes not only in our conference, but from all across the country. I get to see a lot of unique personalities, and yet we're all working toward the same common goal - to be the voice for all Division I student-athletes. It's definitely a lot of work - a lot of emails and phone calls, but it's been really fun.
What are your responsibilities with the national SAAC?
The national SAAC meets three times a year. Our main goal is to collect feedback from the campus reps in our own conferences on all of the student-athlete welfare legislative proposals and bring it to the national SAAC. In September, we had a conference call that went over all of the proposals that we would be looking at for the year. In October, we had the in-person ACC SAAC meeting to present the proposals to the conference reps, who in turn went back to their campuses to gather feedback from their student-athletes. We had an in-person national meeting in November to share the feedback from our conferences, and then January was the culmination of the legislative cycle with the NCAA convention. We have national SAAC reps who speak on the floor at the legislative forum in front of the management council. The management council votes, and then the Board of Directors votes on the proposals.
How do you feel your time on the campus, ACC, and national SAAC will help you after graduation?
I think that being involved in all three has really helped me learn to organize my time. It's also helped to meet with the athletic administration on my campus and getting to work with Eric (Wood, the ACC's Director of Student-Athlete Programs & Compliance) and management council reps. It's helped me to develop professionally.
If there was something you would like the public to know about Maryland's SAAC and its student-athletes, what would it be?
Maryland student-athletes truly care about one another. Our slogan is "700 student-athletes, 27 sports, 1 team," and I really feel that our student-athletes live by that and support each other.
|
