Student-athletes have classes and practices to attend, games to play, and homework to do. After all this hard work, it might seem like they would just want to relax. But Golden Gopher athletes seem to prefer keeping busy. Through Minnesota’s Maroon and Gold Impacting the Community (M.A.G.I.C.) program, Gophers have been using their spare time to have a positive influence on the people around them.

M.A.G.I.C. is run through the Life Skills office in the McNamara Academic Center for Student-Athletes. Organizations holding food drives, school visits, clinics, and a wide variety of other events often contact the U to ask for Gopher athletes’ help at these events. If an organization’s request is approved, student-athletes can sign up online through the McNamara website. They can go to an event as a team or just sign up on their own in a random group of Gophers representing different sports.

Anissa Lightner, the assistant director of student-athlete welfare who organizes M.A.G.I.C., says that the program has grown significantly in her nine years at the U, and that there is now accurate documentation of the program. That documentation process has put some numbers on the dedication of Gopher athletes to community outreach. From September 1, 2009 to August 24, 2010, Gophers volunteered for over 8,668 hours through the M.A.G.I.C. program and on their own.  188 events were organized through the program during that time. At least 614 of about 700 student-athletes volunteered at least once, for an average of 8.5 hours per athlete.
Last year’s events included a toy drive, hospital visits, Special Olympics, and visits to elementary schools to promote reading and healthy lifestyles—and that’s just a small sample. The amount of time athletes have put into these and other volunteer activities has impressed Lightner.

“Our student-athletes—they’re practicing, they’re traveling, they’re competing, they’re carrying a full course load, and they have time to volunteer 15 to 20 hours for some of them,” she said. “That is very humbling to see that kind of commitment to giving back to our community and to making a positive impact. It also just is amazing to me how some of them will compete the night before, or they’ll be competing the day of, and they’ll still go out to volunteer that morning; and that they find time and balance their time so well is pretty awesome.”

Lightner hasn’t been the only one to notice Gopher athletes’ generosity. The more events at which Gophers help, the more people notice them, and the more requests the U gets.  Lightner said that this can be overwhelming, but M.A.G.I.C. will do its best to meet the demand.

Student-athletes have helped keep up with the growing amount of requests by providing their own transportation when needed. Normally, Lightner drives the M.A.G.I.C. Bus--a bus sponsored by St. Jude Medical Foundation and decorated with pictures of Gopher athletics--to events. But when multiple events are happening at once, athletes have stepped in to help with transportation.
When she does get to drive the M.A.G.I.C. Bus, Lightner says she loves seeing people’s faces light up when they see the bus for the first time. She also enjoys spending time with the Gopher volunteers who ride the bus.

“You get to see a different side of them when they’re on the bus and they’re out at community service,” Lightner said. “Sometimes they’re quiet when we’re on our way to the event, but after they get done at the event, the stories they have and the camaraderie and just the bonding that they have with the other athletes that participated in it—it’s really fun to get to see that side.”
Junior defenseman Anne Schleper of Gopher women’s hockey and Brandon Kirksey, a junior defensive tackle for the football team, shared some of their reflections on community outreach.

“It provides a positive experience for those kids and families who aren't typically given the opportunities to succeed,” said Schleper of the M.A.G.I.C. program. “The many Gopher athletes who have volunteered within this program serve as huge role models to these kids and may not even recognize it.”

Schelper lists the Create a Memory event at Target Field (for underprivileged children) and Camp Odayin (for children with heart disease) among her favorite community outreach events. She said that the best part of volunteering is “no doubt the smile I see on the kids' faces. A simple 'hey' or 'high five' can make a world of a difference. It has truly shown me how powerful a little interaction can be to someone who looks up to you.”

Kirksey also knows the impact that interaction can have on both children and himself.

“It means a lot to me, doing community service,” he said. “I was a kid once, so I know exactly how these kids feel when we walk into the room. Their happiness is contagious…A lot of the community service-type things that we do help me to become the person that I am today. So I’m very grateful and I love giving back.”

M.A.G.I.C. already has a long list of events lined up for fall semester. Some of the highlights are causes the Gophers have supported in the past, including the HopeDay Festival on September 12 for children with cancer or other life-threatening illnesses, the Breathe Easy 5K Run on October 17 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a food drive in November for Second Harvest, and a toy drive in December for St. Joseph’s Home for Children and Toys for Tots. Judging by last year’s stats and the giving attitudes of Gopher athletes, these events will be well-staffed.

“There’s not an actual requirement [to do community outreach],” Lightner said. “It’s more just out of the goodness of their hearts that they’re actually giving back this much time to our community.”

One of Kirksey’s comments after an April visit to Maplewood Middle School sums up this attitude.

“Today it’s Friday—no class, you know, I could sleep in,” said Kirksey. “But I’d rather get up any day of the week and come out here and help these kids.”

-Written by Athletic Communications Student Intern, Justine Buerkle