IN THE COMMUNITY The Blue Raider basketball team is involved in numerous community activities during the course of the academic year. The athletes participate in the Reading Raiders program, work with the Special Olympics and Special Kids, attend Career Day at various schools, help make up the B.R.A.S.S. program, work with the Boys and Girls Club of Rutherford County, and in April 2006 assisted in tornado damage cleanup in Gallatin, Tenn., as part of the Lightning Relief Team. The Reading Raiders began in 1993 and is designed to allow Middle Tennessee athletes the opportunity to give back to the community by getting involved in the lives of children. Within this program, Middle Tennessee athletes serve as role models and motivators in encouraging the importance of reading and proper study skills to students in the Murfreesboro City Extended Schools Program. The B.R.A.S.S. program is another vehicle that encourages student-athletes to become involved in service activities. Through the program,
Habitat For Humanity
Special Olympics
Special Kids
Blue Raiders team with city for mentoring program Middle Tennessee’s Athletic Department entered into a partnership agreement with the Murfreesboro City Schools in May 2006 to provide each school with athletic teams to mentor, coach, and tutor students in assigned schools during the school year. The partnership is a continuation of the relationship formed by the City School Board and Middle Tennessee President Sidney McPhee. One of the basic goals for the partnership will be to provide creative mentoring for the student-athlete and the Murfreesboro City School student. Following is a list showing where each athletic program will mentor in 2007-08: Bellwood Discovery School: Soccer Black Fox Elementary: Football Bradley Elementary: Women’s Tennis and Men’s Track Cason Lane Academy: Golf and Softball Central Middle School: Men’s Basketball Hobgood Elementary: Women’s Track Northfield Elementary: Cheerleaders Mitchell-Neilson Elementary: Baseball Mitchell-Neilson Primary: Baseball Reeves-Rogers Elementary: Volleyball Scales Elementary: Women’s Basketball Siegel Elementary: Men’s Tennis and Cross-Country
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Middle Tennessee hosts the Special Olympics each April. The athletes also visit area schools during the course of the year and read to the students. They also visit the Veterans Hospital each month to visit with the patients and exercise with them. The Reading Raiders and Child Advocacy Walk B.R.A.S.S. programs are directed by Wynnifred Counts. In April of 2006, a group of 60 student-athletes made up mostly of football and volleyball players traveled to Gallatin, Tenn., to volunteer their time to assist in cleanup efforts following a devastating
tornado on April 7. The group worked for nearly three hours picking up debris and trying to salvage what was left near a farmhouse in Gallatin.
2007-08 Blue Raider Basketball