Old Dominion University’s athletic academic advising staff and coaches encourage student-athletes to be "servant leaders," said Amy Lynch, director of student-athlete services and community engagement.
"We want all of them to be great students and great athletes, but we want them to walk away from here a better person,” Lynch said. “And that means giving back to the community that gives so much to them."
That message of giving back has resonated, and ODU recently earned national recognition for these efforts.
For the first time, ODU was ranked in the top 10 nationally among the more than 400 colleges and universities that use the Helper Helper software to track community engagement hours logged by student-athletes. ODU placed ninth, higher than any other school in Virginia or the Sun Belt Conference.
ODU athletes, including the cheer and dance teams, spent 5,321 hours in the 2022-23 school year feeding the homeless, mentoring or reading to school children, gathering Christmas presents for kids and dozens of other volunteer opportunities.
That was an increase of 1,886 hours over 2021-22.
Seven ODU teams finished among the top 10 in their respective sports: women's soccer (No. 2); men's swimming (No. 5); lacrosse (No. 6); men's soccer and women's swimming (No. 7); rowing (No. 8); and women's basketball (No. 9).
Katie McGrain, a second-team All-American Athletic Conference defender for the women's lacrosse team, said the University's reputation for encouraging student-athletes to do volunteer work was a major reason why she chose ODU.
"Those of us who play sports, we're so fortunate to have this platform," she said. "As athletes, we can reach so many people. The kids we work with look up to us and listen to us.”
McGrain worked with Lynch as an intern in the fall semester and helped organize events, including the ODU Education Day for the ODU women's basketball team. Nearly 6,000 Norfolk elementary school children were on hand at Chartway Arena to watch the Monarchs defeat Lincoln in early December.
"We hadn't had an Education Day since before the pandemic, and I got to help plan the event," she said. "I coordinated with the elementary schools bringing their kids in.
"It was so much fun to hear the kids. They were so loud."
Ryan Parncutt, a senior defender on the women's soccer team which won conference championships in 2021 and ’22, is one of the reasons the team finished second nationally. She's the student director of community engagement for athletics.
"I always ask our team to step up first," she said.
The soccer team's primary volunteer effort revolves around the "Monarch Sisters" program, where the players mentor females ages 5 through 12.
For six weeks each fall and spring, they pair up with girls for hour-long soccer clinics. During 2022-23, ODU players spent about 300 hours with the young girls.
"We become so close with the girls," Parncutt said. "And the bonus for us is that they come support us at our games."
"Community service is part of the women's soccer culture," she added. "You bond with your teammates while working with kids."
In all, ODU athletes supported nearly 100 volunteer efforts. The football team donated 234 hours mentoring students at Blair Middle School. The lacrosse team hosted a dinner for Norfolk firefighters on 9/11.
Dozens of athletes participated in a Morgan's Message walk, designed to bring awareness of suicides among athletes. Athletes volunteered at local churches, road races, including the Shamrock Marathon, and with rescue squads.
The men's soccer team worked more than 100 hours combined with Operation Smile and assisting the homeless.
Dozens of student-athletes helped serve meals to the homeless in Norfolk through the Mercy Chefs program. They also read to students in the Norfolk public schools as well as held seminars about career goals and financial literacy.
Peyton Turner, a rising senior on the women's swim team, said that student-athletes have little down time. Even when a sport is out of season, there are mandatory workouts and strength and conditioning sessions, in addition to carrying a full class load.
She and her teammates worked in-season for an hour every Sunday with the Tidewater Special Olympics team. They also worked with Parncutt and others to organize the "Sneaker Ball" event for young adults with disabilities.
“It was so rewarding to see these very young, impressionable kids looking up to me at a time when I'm still trying to figure everything out in life," Turner said.
"All those tiny bodies, they are aspiring to do what we are fortunate enough to do. That makes it all worth it."
Pictured above: ODU football player LaMareon James was among the student-athletes who spent 5,321 hours during the 2022-23 school year feeding the homeless, mentoring or reading to school children, gathering Christmas presents for kids and dozens of other volunteer opportunities.