FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The Nova Southeastern University athletic teams have had a loaded slate leading up to Thanksgiving and continue to stay busy, through winter season competition and a variety of community service activities. NSUSharks.com caught up with all of our Sharks to see how they are celebrating the holiday.
On Nov. 8, the NSU track and field team joined the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and the cheerleading squad to
lend a helping hand at the annual Sallarulo's Race, held at NSU. The track team, along with student-athletes from both the baseball and women's soccer teams, ran alongside several Special Olympic youth runners at the event. The annual event has become a volunteer tradition for NSU student-athletes.
The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee recently participated in two annual fall community service events,
its clothing drive with Broward Partnership and its HANDY (Helping Abused Neglected Disadvantaged Youth) holiday food drive.
On Oct. 31, SAAC dropped off around 1,000 articles of clothing and shoes of all sizes. The drive started at the beginning of the school year, with several teams bringing in boxes of clothes at the fall kickoff party. NSU women's soccer student-athlete
Cydney Niedermeyer (So., Fort Myers, Fla.) helped make the dropoff and reflected on her experience.
On Nov. 17, SAAC completed its food drive with the HANDY food drive. NSU student-athletes gathered over a dozen boxes and baskets full of food for the upcoming holiday season. Some teams, such as women's soccer, even left handwritten notes for the families the food would be donated to.
The dropoff was organized by Niedermeyer and performed by softball's
Krista Colburn (Sr. Meade, Colo.), last year's project lead, men's golf's
Ian Facey (Sr. Miami, Fla.) and
James Swan (Sr., London, England), women's golf's
Katrina Wang (So., Shenzhen, China) and tennis'
Alexandra Johansson (Sr., Sydney Australia).
The NSU tennis team gave back to the community Saturday by
aiding the Community Enhancement Collaboration of Washington Park in their annual turkey giveaway. The Sharks spent the morning handing out turkeys and a variety of groceries to families in need of help for Thanksgiving. The Sharks were set up at different food stations and assisted hundreds of families lined up around the block.
The NSU volleyball team gave back to the community by
helping cook and serving in The Victory Living Program kitchen. The Victory Living Program provides services and opportunities to persons with disabilities so they may experience life as independently and rich as possible. The program also hosts the Sharks' most loyal fan base, always seen in the NSU Arena during home sporting events. The team volunteered at the Victory Living Adult Program and helped cooked, serve and partake in a Thanksgiving dinner and engaged in arts and crafts.
The NSU baseball team assisted FAU at a local inner city clinic this past Saturday. The clinic was based on continuing the effort towards reviving baseball in the inner city. The second annual event was held at Osswald Baseball Park in Fort Lauderdale. On the hardwood, the NSU men's and women's basketball teams continue their early season runs. The men will play in three games this week, with the first coming Tuesday night at home against Embry-Riddle at 7:30 p.m. They will face two opponenets after Thanksgiving in Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and Seton Hill on Nov. 28 and 29 at 8 p.m. Those games will be part of NSU's Thanksgiving Classic, which will also include the No. 4 women's team against Stillman and Union on the same days at 2 p.m. For more information, visit the tournament page
HERE.
