Along the Colonnade Generals’ Report 14
W&L
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General for a Day: W&L and Special Olympics Partner Up Emily Hatcher (top row, far right) poses with the women’s soccer team. A sixth-grader from Natural Bridge, Hatcher was W&L’s first General for a Day. BY N AT E J E RVE Y
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ixth-grader Emily Hatcher lives in Natural Bridge, bowls, plays basketball, participates in Special Olympics—and holds the distinction of being W&L’s first General for a Day. Her visit to campus this past Sept. 21, as a guest of the women’s soccer team, kicked off a new partnership involving W&L’s Athletics Department, Special Olympics, the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) and NCAA Division III. General for a Day emerged from the NCAA’s Division III Special Olympics Initiative, which encourages student-athletes to pursue activities such as fund-raising and sporting events with Special Olympians in their areas. Following the NCAA’s lead, ODAC cemented a partnership with Special Olympics Virginia (SOVA). With the help of the StudentAthlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Michelle Hughes, organizer of the Rockbridge Area Chapter of Special Olympics, got to work with the women’s soccer team. One of its members, midfielder and ODAC scholar-athlete Dory Blackey ’12, had already been working with Hughes through the organization Students Supporting Alumni
Special Olympics. Blackey, an English major and studio art minor from Versailles, Ky., has also held a Shepherd Alliance Internship. “There is a great energy about developing this relationship and making it meaningful and worthwhile,” Blackey said. “The Athletic Department, coaches and student-athletes are jumping right in and making things happen.” Emily’s day as a General began with a visit to her classroom at Maury River Middle School from Blackey and her teammates Ainsley Daigle ’13, Katie Howard ’13 and Katherine Rush ’15. The quartet joined Emily for lunch at school and presented her with W&L gear to wear to that afternoon’s home game against Randolph College. At Watt Field, Emily warmed up with the team and posed for the official photograph (above). She accompanied the captains to the coin toss and then spent the game cheering from the team bench as W&L won an 8-0 victory over the WildCats. “It was great having Emily on the sidelines,” Blackey said. “I could tell that Emily was loving it by the way she loosened up to the players on the sidelines as the game went on. We were
very happy to share this part of our life with Emily, as we are so fortunate to participate in athletics in the competitive way that we do every day.” With the resounding success of the first General for a Day, other fall teams lined up, each one hosting a different Special Olympian. At the Oct. 21 Lee-Jackson Lacrosse Classic, W&L also solicited donations for the Rockbridge Special Olympics. Athletic Director Jan Hathorn is pleased with the program so far. “We decided to use this first year to build a foundation of collaboration through a few small events sponsored by SAAC and 23,” she said, “with the goal of hosting a culminating event during the spring sports season.” (The organization 23 was formerly known as SAMS—Student-Athlete Mentors. Its motto is “Many Sports, One Team.”) As for the Special Olympics, “it is important for others to see our athletes as part of the community,” said Michelle Hughes, “and to recognize the determination, intelligence and skill each player has.” With Generals for a Day like Emily Hatcher and teams like women’s soccer, the program is meeting those expectations—and more.
Magazine
3/8/12 5:04 PM