SE: K-State Represents Well at Big 12 SAAC Meetings
Dec 14, 2021 | Sports Extra, Athletics
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Shortly after high jumper Devon Richardson transferred from Pittsburg State to Kansas State, the native of Lee's Summit, Missouri, knew that he wanted to make a difference. So did sprinter Vitoria Sena Batista Alves, who traveled from Sao Paulo, Brazil to be a part of the Wildcats.
Last spring, they both applied to be members of the K-State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which is comprised of four student-athletes from each of K-State's 12 athletic teams. Since their selection in August, Richardson and Alves, and dozens of others have served as a connection between teams, K-State administration, and the K-State community.
"K-State was looking for representatives and leaders for SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) and I was all for it," Richardson said. "I'm still new here, but I realize there are always things that can be changed, and I knew I could help foster those changes through SAAC. Athletes want to be heard more and discuss topics with administration. We have a voice as student-athletes."
Added Alves: "We just want to be heard and do something to be more present and I want to do more for my friends and athletes."
The K-State SAAC meets every third Sunday at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the West Stadium Center. The members serve to represent the interest, opinions and concerns of the K-State student-athletes. The group provides representation on various athletic department search committees and student government committees to address departmental policies and procedures as they relate to student-athlete well-being.
SAAC provides an opportunity to enhance leadership abilities and make an impact on individual teams, within the department of athletics, in the Manhattan community and at K-State as a whole.
Over the years, the SAAC has worked very closely with the planning and execution of Adopt-a-Family, Cats for Cans, Powercat Choice Awards, Cats in the Classroom, Special Olympics Sports Clinic and Student-Athlete Family Nights.
"I'm on the marketing committee, so I help advertise events," Alves said. "One of our biggest events is Cats for Cans, so we went around gathering donations. In SAAC, we also discuss a lot of issues like name, image, and likeness (NIL)."
Recently, Richardson, Alves and football player Jace Friesen were selected to represent K-State at the Big 12 Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee meeting held December 3rd through 5th in Arlington, Texas. A gathering of about 20 SAAC members from Big 12 schools attended various meetings inside their hotel
Live! by Loews of Arlington.
Big 12 SAAC representatives had a chance to interact with members from other Big 12 schools, hold a question-and-answer session with Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, hear updates from Big 12 officials, listen to various speakers, and participate in interactive leadership activities.
The Big 12 SAAC is the avenue for engaging student-athletes on their respective team, fellow student-athletes, and athletics administration at the campus, conference, and national level. Big 12 SAAC provides feedback on Council and Autonomy legislative items, empowers others to utilize their platform in sport to create social change and maximize their student-athlete experience.
"I'd 100 percent do it again," Alves said. "The most beneficial thing for me was that I could feel special, and the athletes could be heard. We're in an important position to represent our schools. It's important to me that I can do my job to the best that I can. The Big 12 SAAC meeting built confidence within me that I can use my voice.
"I took a lot of pride in representing K-State. It was very important to me. Going to this meeting was amazing. I enjoyed everything. We had meetings, team-bonding activities, and the whole weekend was special."
Perhaps equally special was the opportunity to help give back through community service. The Big 12 SAAC representatives partnered with Children's Health for a service project.
"When we learned that our community service opportunity was aimed toward kids suffering from cancer, we wrote letters to them and that was special," Alves said. "We made a box full of toys and we could choose which toys we put inside of the box and whether it'd be for a girl or a boy. I wrote something special to a girl to hopefully light up her day and make her happy."
Richardson said, "That was definitely a highlight."
As for the most informational segment of the Big 12 SAAC meeting? That arrived when representatives met with Bowlsby the day before the 2021 Big 12 Football Championship Game at AT&T Stadium, located blocks from the hotel. Richardson and Alves felt that they were able to learn about Bowlsby on more of a personal level, including his path to becoming commissioner.
"I thought Commissioner Bowlsby was going to give a speech and we'd take notes," Richardson said. "He was very genuine and exceeded everyone's expectations for the meeting. He was very open with us during our conversation. One of the questions that stood out came from Vitoria regarding how to implement NIL for international athletes. He said that he wasn't very aware of the issue and hadn't discussed it. It really made him think about it. He said that he would go back and go deeper into the issue in helping international athletes get equal opportunity of what domestic athletes have.
"Commissioner Bowlsby told us that he is committed to the student-athlete, and he made it a goal to help us understand that our voices are really heard and that he is committed to us."
Alves said, "We asked him questions and felt like we were being heard."
Richardson said that he learned the value of constant communication with the athletic director.
"One of the things I learned was about reaching out to our athletic director more," he said. "I thought it was an intimidating thing to schedule a meeting with the athletic director. They discussed the importance of knowing your athletic director and establishing a relationship with your athletic director. That's something I plan on just to keep the conversation going."
One final highlight arrived when the Big 12 SAAC representatives were guests at the Big 12 Championship Game.
"Of course," Richardson said, "that was a very exciting game."
The Big 12 SAAC representatives continue to stay in contact and plan to remain in contact as respective student-athlete advisory committees continue to discuss issues.
"We formed a bond, and we still talk to this day," Richardson said. "We have a group chat, and we talk about our own separate lives at our separate schools. We bounce ideas off each other from the meetings. Often days, we just talk about how our day is going. I feel like we have a strong Big 12 SAAC.
"We have unity among the schools. Our ideas can bring the Big 12 together."
Shortly after high jumper Devon Richardson transferred from Pittsburg State to Kansas State, the native of Lee's Summit, Missouri, knew that he wanted to make a difference. So did sprinter Vitoria Sena Batista Alves, who traveled from Sao Paulo, Brazil to be a part of the Wildcats.
Last spring, they both applied to be members of the K-State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which is comprised of four student-athletes from each of K-State's 12 athletic teams. Since their selection in August, Richardson and Alves, and dozens of others have served as a connection between teams, K-State administration, and the K-State community.
"K-State was looking for representatives and leaders for SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) and I was all for it," Richardson said. "I'm still new here, but I realize there are always things that can be changed, and I knew I could help foster those changes through SAAC. Athletes want to be heard more and discuss topics with administration. We have a voice as student-athletes."
Added Alves: "We just want to be heard and do something to be more present and I want to do more for my friends and athletes."
The K-State SAAC meets every third Sunday at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the West Stadium Center. The members serve to represent the interest, opinions and concerns of the K-State student-athletes. The group provides representation on various athletic department search committees and student government committees to address departmental policies and procedures as they relate to student-athlete well-being.
SAAC provides an opportunity to enhance leadership abilities and make an impact on individual teams, within the department of athletics, in the Manhattan community and at K-State as a whole.
Over the years, the SAAC has worked very closely with the planning and execution of Adopt-a-Family, Cats for Cans, Powercat Choice Awards, Cats in the Classroom, Special Olympics Sports Clinic and Student-Athlete Family Nights.
"I'm on the marketing committee, so I help advertise events," Alves said. "One of our biggest events is Cats for Cans, so we went around gathering donations. In SAAC, we also discuss a lot of issues like name, image, and likeness (NIL)."
Recently, Richardson, Alves and football player Jace Friesen were selected to represent K-State at the Big 12 Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee meeting held December 3rd through 5th in Arlington, Texas. A gathering of about 20 SAAC members from Big 12 schools attended various meetings inside their hotel
Live! by Loews of Arlington.
Big 12 SAAC representatives had a chance to interact with members from other Big 12 schools, hold a question-and-answer session with Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, hear updates from Big 12 officials, listen to various speakers, and participate in interactive leadership activities.
The Big 12 SAAC is the avenue for engaging student-athletes on their respective team, fellow student-athletes, and athletics administration at the campus, conference, and national level. Big 12 SAAC provides feedback on Council and Autonomy legislative items, empowers others to utilize their platform in sport to create social change and maximize their student-athlete experience.
"I'd 100 percent do it again," Alves said. "The most beneficial thing for me was that I could feel special, and the athletes could be heard. We're in an important position to represent our schools. It's important to me that I can do my job to the best that I can. The Big 12 SAAC meeting built confidence within me that I can use my voice.
"I took a lot of pride in representing K-State. It was very important to me. Going to this meeting was amazing. I enjoyed everything. We had meetings, team-bonding activities, and the whole weekend was special."
Perhaps equally special was the opportunity to help give back through community service. The Big 12 SAAC representatives partnered with Children's Health for a service project.
"When we learned that our community service opportunity was aimed toward kids suffering from cancer, we wrote letters to them and that was special," Alves said. "We made a box full of toys and we could choose which toys we put inside of the box and whether it'd be for a girl or a boy. I wrote something special to a girl to hopefully light up her day and make her happy."
Richardson said, "That was definitely a highlight."
As for the most informational segment of the Big 12 SAAC meeting? That arrived when representatives met with Bowlsby the day before the 2021 Big 12 Football Championship Game at AT&T Stadium, located blocks from the hotel. Richardson and Alves felt that they were able to learn about Bowlsby on more of a personal level, including his path to becoming commissioner.
"I thought Commissioner Bowlsby was going to give a speech and we'd take notes," Richardson said. "He was very genuine and exceeded everyone's expectations for the meeting. He was very open with us during our conversation. One of the questions that stood out came from Vitoria regarding how to implement NIL for international athletes. He said that he wasn't very aware of the issue and hadn't discussed it. It really made him think about it. He said that he would go back and go deeper into the issue in helping international athletes get equal opportunity of what domestic athletes have.
"Commissioner Bowlsby told us that he is committed to the student-athlete, and he made it a goal to help us understand that our voices are really heard and that he is committed to us."
Alves said, "We asked him questions and felt like we were being heard."
Richardson said that he learned the value of constant communication with the athletic director.
"One of the things I learned was about reaching out to our athletic director more," he said. "I thought it was an intimidating thing to schedule a meeting with the athletic director. They discussed the importance of knowing your athletic director and establishing a relationship with your athletic director. That's something I plan on just to keep the conversation going."
One final highlight arrived when the Big 12 SAAC representatives were guests at the Big 12 Championship Game.
"Of course," Richardson said, "that was a very exciting game."
The Big 12 SAAC representatives continue to stay in contact and plan to remain in contact as respective student-athlete advisory committees continue to discuss issues.
"We formed a bond, and we still talk to this day," Richardson said. "We have a group chat, and we talk about our own separate lives at our separate schools. We bounce ideas off each other from the meetings. Often days, we just talk about how our day is going. I feel like we have a strong Big 12 SAAC.
"We have unity among the schools. Our ideas can bring the Big 12 together."
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