Athletes take the lead off the playing field through Student-Athlete Advisory Council

Balancing classes, work and a social life can wear the best of us thin. Add tough games and rigorous workouts, and you’ve got the lives of Husky student-athletes. Some student-athletes choose to stretch themselves even further by participating in the Washington Student-Athlete Advisory Council (WSAAC).

WSAAC is a group comprising at least two athletes from each varsity sport that plans events for athletes, organizes community service opportunities and ensures that any athlete concerns are heard by the athletic department administration.

WSAAC members meet twice a month, along with an adviser, to discuss issues ranging from the menu at the athlete dining hall to players concerns about having to pay for parking during their games.

Ashlee Anderson is the assistant director of Life Skills and serves as the head adviser for WSAAC. Anderson, who came to the UW five years ago, oversees the WSAAC meetings and serves as a liaison between the WSAAC student-athletes and the athletic department administration to help smooth out any incidents that may arise.

This year, she had to deal with several instances of athletes being forced to pay to park for their own games, or having to pay to park while making a quick stop in the locker room to retrieve belongings.

“Parking is a concern for most of the students on campus,” Anderson said. “But because of the athlete’s schedules, parking became an issue that [WSAAC] dealt with this year. The University brought in a person from parking and we all had a great conversation. It’s really about opening communication between campus groups.”

Along with helping address student-athlete concerns, Anderson makes sure the athletes are having fun and being productive.

“I try to create a positive atmosphere and monitor the group and make sure that they stay on task with their various projects,” she said.

One of WSAAC’s successful projects is the Gold Games. These are generally the most important games of the year, or rivalry games that teams want to perform well in.

“Every team identifies one game per year that they want other student athletes to come out and give them the maximum support,” Anderson said. “The teams are wanting more and more of the general student population to come out in support as well.”

Incoming president, Brooke Anderson, a senior cross-country and track runner Brooke, said one of her primary goals for next year is to strengthen the bond between athletes and students.

“We have big plans for next year,” Anderson said. “We’re really trying to be the liaison between the athletes and the regular students on campus. We really feel like there is a big gap between the athletes and the student body.”

One way that may happen is through the Gold Games, she said.

“We might advertise Gold Games as a school wide push instead of just the student-athletes,” Anderson said. “We may say, ‘Hey, let’s get the Dawgs Pack as big as we can for this event. Let’s do some sort of rally or pre-game barbecue.’”

Senior women’s soccer player Dana Stirn, who has served on WSAAC for two years, compares the group to a high school student body.

“We’re the student representatives of the athletic department,” Stirn said. “The best analogy is that it’s like ASB in high school.”

Stirn also heads up the event committee that plans and organizes various functions throughout the year for athletes.

“Our big end of the year event coming up is the Student-Athlete Awards Banquet,” Stirn said. “It’s a time for all of the athletes to come together and have dinner and recognize outstanding individuals.”

Each sport has different ways of selecting which members will serve on WSAAC for their respective sports. Some are chosen on a volunteer basis, while others have stricter requirements for holding a position that has an effect on the entire athletic department.

“For the most part, our coach (Lesle Gallimore) has the biggest role in deciding in who will represent the team,” Stirn said. “Being responsible and having good grades are key. The current representatives also help pick future representatives.”

Aside from not only learning the ins and outs of the athletic department, Stirn said serving on WSAAC has helped her gain a greater appreciation of the hard work that goes into event organizing.

“As a student-athlete, you have a lot that is provided for you,” Stirn said. “But on WSAAC, you get to see where a lot of it comes from. You get to see how staff interacts with student-athletes, and it gives you a little bit more insight from behind the scenes.”

Although the school year is winding down, Anderson said that one of WSAAC’s biggest goals for next year is to become more integrated with the general campus population.

“We want to partner more with other campus groups to bridge that gap that people see from campus to athletics,” she said.

Despite the time commitment of meeting every other week with WSAAC, and meeting with her event planning committee on the opposite weeks, Stirn said that she wouldn’t have done things any differently if she had the chance.

“I would definitely do it again,” she said. “It has really helped me to appreciate all of the work that the staff members put in order to make my student-athlete experience here a positive one.”