Around The USCAA - 12/8/14
Around the USCAA is a weekly article that highlights current happenings, key matchups, and relevant news stories from across the association. If you have a relevant news piece that you would like considered for inclusion please send it to info@theuscaa.com.
St. Joseph’s College-Brooklyn SAAC Volunteers at the 2014 NYC Marathon
A first-hand account from SAAC President Anna Carbon
Running the NYC marathon may be a lot of work, but so is volunteering for it. Just ask any of the 38 of us who did! It all started in early September when I started to recruit people to work at the fluid stations at the marathon. Getting people to sign up was not the issue; it was the process that was difficult. People had to go online and fill out various forms and it was like pulling teeth. But when that was finally all said and done, we just had to wait for the marathon!
Sunday mornings are usually meant for me to wake up late and be lazy (or do homework), but not on November 2nd. I was getting ready to leave for the volunteer work at 5:15 am. Fortunately, the station where we working was Mile 9 of the marathon on Grand Avenue and Lafayette Avenue, which is only a ten minute walk from school. A number of athletes and coaches signed up, including the entire baseball team and coaching staff, some of the volleyball players, some cross country runners and their coach and even our athletic director. This made the experience much more interesting. Huge thanks to them all! I met up with the baseball team and we started walking toward our station, or so we thought. After about a half mile, we realized we were going in the wrong direction, so we basically walked about an extra mile for no reason. But soon enough we found our workspace, grabbed some bright green ponchos, and started to mix water and Gatorade (FYI it was a 5-to-1 ratio).
So far, the day consisted of waking up super early, walking a mile out of our way, and making the Gatorade. Can’t get any worse really, right? Wrong. It was so windy and it was about 40° outside. After setting up about 350 cups filled with yellow Gatorade, gusts of wind would come every now and then and just knock them all over. Not only would they get knocked over, but their contents would end up on me almost every single time. I like Gatorade, but not THAT much. Needless to say, I am still trying to revive my Ugg boots.
After the setup was complete, the race began. First, the racers in wheelchairs came by. One man was sticking his hand out and no one had any idea what he was doing. We thought maybe he wanted a high five for encouragement but apparently this gesture meant he wanted a drink. From then on, we knew that was our cue.
The first batch of runners began arriving sporadically. They were the elite runners who were racing for first place and wouldn’t stop for water. Then the runners began showing up in larger groups. As ridiculous as it sounds, the first few cups we handed out were dropped because we didn’t know how to properly hand them off. Frank Carbone, on the other hand, was a natural and quickly got into the groove when he arrived shortly after us.
Like Frank, we eventually got a technique down and began swiftly passing out Gatorade. The pace, however, was a bit too swift. Thousands of runners started to stampede by us. The runners from other countries were asking for "vater" and threw the drinks on the floor when they saw the yellow Gatorade. The cups were gone before we knew it and I was scrambling to fill up more. It started to get stressful. I was cold, tired, wet, and sticky. I smelt like lemon-lime and was running out of the thirst-quencher. I am sure all the other student-athletes felt the same way.
Then a runner who was gasping for breath approached me. He took a cup from my hand and said, "Thank you so much, volunteers." That was when I shook off the cold and tiredness. I remembered the feeling of being an exhausted runner taking a sip of water after a few miles. Nothing compares. More and more, runners were thanking us. Even after running nine miles and trying to conserve their energy for the next 17, they were able to express their gratitude. That made the whole experience worth it.
*Courtesy of St. Joseph’s College-Brooklyn Athletic Website
Key Weekly Matchups
Men’s Basketball
12/9/14 – Penn State Hazelton at Penn State Wilkes Barre at 8:00 P.M.
12/10/14 – NHTI at College of St. Joseph’s-Vermont at 6:00 P.M.
12/11/14 – Southern Maine CC at Central Maine CC at 8:00 P.M.
12/12/14 – Penn State Greater Allegheny at Penn State Fayette at 8:00 P.M.
12/13/14 – The Apprentice School at Florida National University at 5:00 P.M.
12/13/14 – Berea College at Indiana University Kokomo at 3:00 P.M.
Women’s Basketball
12/10/14 – Penn State Mont Alto at Christendom College at 5:00 P.M.
12/10/14 – NHTI at College of St. Joseph’s-Vermont at 8:00 P.M.
12/11/14 – Eastern Maine CC at University of Maine Augusta at 5:30 P.M.
12/11/14 – Southern Maine CC at Central Maine CC at 6:00 P.M.
12/12/14 – Briarcliffe College at Penn State Brandywine 5:00 P.M.