STA’s athletics have completely changed over the last year’”for the better. Coach Hough instituted many great improvements such as the gym renovations, the new tennis courts, the sports barbecues and the creation of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

The SAAC is my favorite improvement. This is a committee that is used in many schools nation-wide and gives student athletes a chance to tell the school what we want in our athletics. There are about 40 student athletes on the committee and we help inform the athletic department on what is most important to us, in order to guide the department on how to spend money. Topics discussed and voted on during meetings include if we want to travel, renovate facilities (such as the gym and tennis courts), or buy parkas for winter sports’ teams.

Coach Hough created the group by inviting about 20 student athletes to join the committee. The group snow-balled from there because coach Hough encouraged us to invite other athletes to the meetings in order to have an even better representation of STA’s student athlete population.

Some other responsibilities we, as members, have are helping enforce rules (such as no parking in reserved spots behind the gym) and keeping people off the floors at basketball and volleyball games. As SAAC members, we are supposed to set examples for both student athletes and students who support STA athletics.

I think this is a great organization because the athletic department is finally considering what we think is important, which makes sense considering we’re the people on the fields and courts.

For more information regarding the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, contact Caoch Hough.