Student-athletes help out

By Sean Rooney on March 22, 2018.

srooney@medicinehatnews.com @MHNRooney

The college golf season ended in October, but Brett Griscowsky knows he’s a Rattler all year long.

The soccer and futsal seasons produced thrilling moments for Jordan Fauth, but so too did the players she coached.

Wins and losses aside for Medicine Hat College, it’s been a rewarding past year for their student-athletes who have somehow found the time to put in a combined 5,023 hours’ worth of volunteer work as calculated by their staff.

“The number is incredibly impressive,” said college sport and wellness manager Terry Ballard. “Quite frankly though it’s not a surprise to us.

“They’re a great group of kids.”

Ballard sees first-hand the kinds of things Rattlers athletes do in the community. This is the first time somebody’s added it all up, however, and the hope is by publicizing it, both those in the city and the athletes themselves are proud of what they’ve done.

“I really love doing it. It’s rewarding to me; it doesn’t feel like work,” said Griscowsky. “I have a good time, I get new friends out of it. I’ve got to meet lots of great people from doing all this stuff.”

Though he hit his last shot for the golf team about five months ago —he’s played the maximum five seasons with the Rattlers —Griscowsky has spent lots of time helping with sledge hockey, giving gifts to kids in hospital and more. He even helps with a student-led group called RALI (Rattlers Athletics Leadership Initiative) which connects the athletes with community groups who could use some help.

“We just brought RALI back this year, I was part of the inaugural group that started it in 2011,” he said. “It’s been going really, really well this time around.

“Our purpose back then was to create a little bit of community engagement, do a bit of fundraising. This time around it’s a little more focused on volunteerism and doing things in the community.”

Fauth’s women’s futsal team won the conference title for the fifth year in a row earlier this month, but her schedule didn’t slow down much —the under-18 club team she coaches had provincials in Lethbridge last weekend.

“Coaching these different teams and seeing them get better and improve, then hopefully come to the college or play at a college level is pretty rewarding,” said the third-year defender. “You’re a student-athlete so you have your school and your sports. But once you get involved in volunteering it’s like you don’t want to stop.”

Add to that standalone events like the Jingle and Mingle Christmas fundraising party and it’s a wonder some of the athletes find time to balance practices, schoolwork and volunteering.

But they do. And they’ve been doing it for years. Ballard notes it’s only been recently that the community-building projects have become more formalized, with Rattlers soccer coach Travis Hyde hired as a community engagement coordinator this season.

“They know when we’re coming, who’s coming, it works out really well. I’m so pleased those things are in place,” said Ballard.

As for how things might change in the future, Ballard is careful not to expect more hours per se — you don’t want to burn out those who are already giving so much. But there’s always some who are extra-keen and others who don’t do a lot, and he wouldn’t mind seeing the opposite ends of the spectrum level off a bit.

“I think 5,000 hours is not a bad target,” said Ballard. “There’s often a few kids doing more than they need to and it’s up to us to get the student-athletes who aren’t contributing as much to step up their game too.

“The culture was there, that’s a lot of what this age group thinks of nowadays. Now we have to make sure it’s organized properly and have an annual plan.”

In any case, there’s no doubt all the work is appreciated. Medicine Hat’s already known as a city with an incredible contingent of volunteers, and the Rattlers seem happy to be a part of it.

“You kind of don’t even realize all the work other people are doing, how we as a collective group are making a difference,” said Griscowsky. “Five thousand hours is a lot of time.”