At California Lutheran University, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is represented by student-athletes here on campus. These athletes serve as advocates and leadership voices pertaining to fall and spring athletic sports teams.ย
Cal Lutheran student-athletes Jacqueline Brandon and Eric Talbert discussed and shared their roles and obligations regarding the SAAC.
Brandon, a junior on the womenโs water polo team, serves as the president of the SAAC at Cal Lutheran and a national representative for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.ย
โItโs student government for athletes is essentially what it is. Iโm also the national rep for the SCIAC, so the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference so I represent the SCIAC on a national level, so we have meetings with other conferences and we essentially talk about different aspects of like the student-athlete experience, legislation, things like that,โ Brandon said.ย
As a student-athlete, Brandon said she has a busy schedule throughout the week, considering the leadership roles she has obtained on campus regarding the SAAC and making sure students are involved with whatโs going on.ย
โThroughout the week, itโs relatively involved. Iโll stop into the athletic suite a couple times a week, maybe. We meet twice a month. Iโm also the chair for the Sports Ethics and Fan Behavior Committee, nationally so we meet once a month for that,โ Brandon said. โI just, I enjoy being a part of leadership in general. I know that thatโs like, weโre up-and-coming leaders as students and especially as athletes. We have a platform to be leaders and regardless of whether we know it or not, thatโs a responsibility we have especially here at Cal Lu.โ
Brandon said that this past July, Cal Lutheranโs SAAC representatives had the opportunity to fly out to Indianapolis to meet with other representatives from different teams to dive deeper into the expectations for the committee and to go over the rules and events that are tied to the SCIAC.ย
โThey flew us out there, with all the otherโฆ I think we had 33 reps there and a couple of them zoomed in because the microsoft crash,โ Brandon said. โSo, we talked a lot about different legislations, we talk about like up and coming sports, we talk about like DIII week, sports officials week, all these kinds of things that are what makes the athletic experience the athletic experience.โ
Talbert, a senior menโs cross-country and track and field athlete, serves as another student representative in the SAAC.ย
โBasically my role on that team is I serve as a representative of the voice of the student-athletes on that team whether thereโs any concerns amidst the team with how theyโre being treated, I basically bring those issues up with administration here at Cal Lutheran,โ Talbert said. โSometimes I feel like athletes are under-represented and I basically serve as that voice to make sure that they are represented.โ
In February of this year, Cal Lutheran’s representatives of the SAAC had the privilege to fly to Indianapolis to meet with other sports teams, representatives, and legislators in order to discuss future plans for students at Cal Lutheran.ย
Talbert also said that significant changes went into this year concerning students and teams getting to know each other.
โOne of the things that we held was the welcome back party, the pool party for student-athletes, in comparison to last year was just a, โoh come sit down weโre gonna talk to you for an hour, and then some like ice breaker games.โ That wasnโt like, no one really wanted to do that,โ Talbert said. โWe wanted to make it more so it was aย student-athlete experience that was more fun and this year was an absolute blast, we had a major turnout much better than we anticipated.โ
Talbert said the SAAC provides opportunities for student-athletes to be a part of something other than their sport and is a great way to get involved and build on leadership skills.
โSAAC is a wonderful opportunity. I would highly recommend anybody who is interested in a leadership role or who wants to get more invested in athletics here at Cal Lutheran, take that opportunity,โ Talbert said.
