Minium: ODU Student-Athletes Spent More than 5,000 Hours Volunteering in the Hampton Roads Community

NORFOLK, Va. – While Old Dominion University is a secular institution, the gist of the philosophy that ODU passes down to student-athletes is summed up in Luke, 12:48. "To who much is given, much will be required."
 
"We're all pretty blessed," Amy Lynch, ODU's director of student-athlete services and community engagement, said of ODU's 466 student-athletes.
 
"We're all trying to get an education and we're all playing a Division I sport. So, we have a lot of blessings and a responsibility to share those gifts that we have.
 
"Some of those gifts are the time our student-athletes have to go help people in the Hampton Roads community."
 
The message of giving back has resonated with ODU student-athletes.
 
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.
 
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 keep track of community engagement hours logged by student-athletes. ODU ranked ninth, higher than any other school in Virginia or the Sun Belt Conference.


ODU students hosted a "Sneaker Ball" prom for special needs young adults. 
 
The Sun Belt dominated the rankings, as six other Sun Belt schools finished among the Top 25: No. 11 Troy, No 15 Georgia Southern, No. 16 Louisiana, No. 17 Coastal Carolina, No. 24 South Alabama and No. 25 James Madison.
 
Notably, 19 members of the top 25 were mid-majors, proving that the size of a school's athletic program does not necessarily measure the size of the hearts of student-athletes.
 
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
 
Women's Basketball, No. 9
 
Lynch said ODU's academic advising staff and coaches try to teach student-athletes to be "servant leaders."
 
"I tell my own kids, my children, that you don't have to be an Olympic athlete or a Rhodes Scholar," Lynch said. "But you need to be the best person you can possibly be.
 
"We want all of our student-athletes to be great students and great athletes, but we want them to walk away from here a better person. And that means giving back to the community that gives so much to them."


ODU Swimmer Brice Bounds reads to Norfolk school children. 

ODU's student-athletes indeed benefit from the millions of dollars for scholarships and facilities that the Hampton Roads community provides through fundraising and ticket sales. And every team, from football to field hockey, has fans in the stands when they compete.
 
Katie McGrain, a second-team All-American Athletic Conference defender for the women's lacrosse team, said ODU'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.
 
"We're all busy. But it's difficult not to make time to go work with those kids."
 
ODU women's soccer coach Angie Hind and assistant coaches Michelle Barr and Sam Kirschenbaum make it a priority for their players to participate in some form of community work.
 
And that doesn't appear to have hurt the Monarchs on the field. ODU won the Conference USA title in 2021 and ODU's first Sun Belt Conference title this past fall.


Peyton Turner said she made finding time in her busy schedule for volunteer work a priority. 

Ryan Parncutt, a senior defender on the women's soccer team, is one of the reasons the team finished second nationally. She's the student director of community engagement.
 
"I always ask our team to step up first," she said.
 
The soccer team's primary volunteer effort revolves around a program called "Monarch Sisters," in which the team mentors females ages five through 12.
 
For six weeks each fall and spring, the women's soccer players pair up with girls and hosts them for an hour-long soccer clinic. And while the girls became better soccer players by being coached by ODU players, the more important result is the girls learn life lessons from and bond with their mentors.
 
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."
 
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 help bring awareness to suicides among athletes. Athletes volunteered at local churches, at area road races, including the Shamrock Marathon; and volunteered with area rescue squads.


Katie McGrain came to ODU in part because athletes are encouraged to do volunteer work.  

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.
 
Parncutt said her teammates benefit as much as the children they work with.
 
"Community service is part of the women's soccer culture," she said. "You bond with your teammates while working with kids."
 
McGrain worked with Lynch as an intern in the fall semester and she helped organize events, including the ODU Education Day for the ODU women's basketball team, in which nearly 6,000 Norfolk elementary school children poured into Chartway Arena to watch the Monarchs defeat Lincoln in early December.


 Women's soccer player Ava Rice reads to Norfolk school children.

"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. "

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.
 
And college is also when you're supposed to have an active social life.
 
A psychology major, Turner took what she called the most challenging psych course she will ever take this past spring. Nonetheless, she made working dozens of hours in the community a priority.
 
"I never had a second thought about going out to help on a volunteer effort," she said. "Even if I'm struggling with things, I know I'm making someone feel special."
 
She and her swim 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.


ODU women's basketball star Amari Young working with Norfolk school students.  

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," she said.
 
"A lot of the reason why I do this is if these were my kids, I would want people to give time to my kids.
 
"The kids are full of questions about what it's like to be an athlete. Being with them gives them some insight into knowing they are going to have to work hard for everything they want to achieve in life.
 
"All those tiny bodies, they are aspiring to do what we are fortunate enough to do. That makes it all worth it."
 
Contact Minium at hminium@odu.edu or follow him  on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram