SAAC provides community for all athletes

Parker Sprague, a junior from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has shown his leadership skills on and off the court. Sprague serves as the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in addition to being a key member of the UW-Whitewater men’s tennis team.

SAAC, Sprague said, is a resource for Whitewater’s student-athletes to form a sense of community and discuss the “goings-on” within the Warhawk athletics atmosphere.

“Every team kind of picks a couple representatives and we come in and you know as student-athletes we just kind of give each other updates about ongoing activities that are going on within the student-athlete committee,” he said.

One of the main outings that SAAC members participate in is volunteer visits to the Fairhaven Senior Center in Whitewater, but that is just one of the many good deeds committed by SAAC members.

Junior, Sprague gets ready to serve the ball against an opponent in a tennis match at UW-Whitewater’s home tennis courts.

“We did just recently a blanket-tying for the Milwaukee Children’s Hospital,” Sprague said. “During the spring we have a polar plunge here … which is always a big hit as well.”

While volunteering is a big part of what the SAAC does, it isn’t the only purpose of the committee. Life of a student-athlete can be grueling and SAAC provides an atmosphere for all Warhawk athletes to “stick together” and preserve the traditional family culture of the student-athlete community.

“It’s about all of the volunteering stuff, but also keeping the athletes engaged and kind of intertwined between each other, like what is going on in their lives as well,” Sprague said. “That support of athletes for other athletes plays a big role as well.”

Overall, SAAC is a positive way for athletes to stay involved outside of their sport and benefit from the perspective and camaraderie of athletes from other sports.

“Getting athletes used to collaboration with other people, teamwork as well,” Sprague said. “When we do volunteering and stuff there’s a mixture of other student athletes so they kind of get a sprinkle of not just their sport, but they get to expand their view and viewpoint when it comes to doing stuff with other athletes.”

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