If you have so much as glanced at sports headlines during the year, you know that UCSD athletes have broken several school and national records, gone to the playoffs (some for the first time) and competed for national championships. In addition to juggling an already rigorous schedule of school and sports, many athletes willingly sacrifices free time to make a difference in the San Diego community.
Junior Karina Siam of the UCSD women’s basketball team is one of about 18 athletes who gets up at the crack of dawn to hold 7 a.m. informal physical education classes for students at Del Mar Heights Elementary School. Siam is a part of Team Up, which was formed to provide students with fun physical activities before and during school hours.
“We have to get up [around 5 a.m.] for this, and it’s a lot easier than getting up for class,” Siam said. “You get here and once you see the kids, you get energized. You leave here with energy and you’re happy.”
Team Up athletes also stop by during recess at Del Mar Heights to play pick-up games of baseball, soccer and basketball or to teach kids how to hula-hoop and jump rope.
“I like Team Up because [the volunteer athletes] play games with kids like hula-hoop and throwing the football to each other … multitasking things,” Del Mar Heights fifth-grader James Lewis said.
The purpose of the Team Up program was to address the lack of P.E. classes at Del Mar Heights Elementary.
“Team Up began with a whole bunch of different people’s ideas,” Del Mar Heights teacher and Team Up organizer Paige Rollins said. “It came from our principal [Wendy Wardlow] and a dedicated parent at our school who wanted the kids to be active and have fun before school and during school.”
There are approximately 497 students enrolled at Del Mar Heights between kindergarten and sixth grade. Team Up is open to all students interested in participating.
“It was really fun to have Team Up here because it wasn’t very fun when you don’t know what to do, and then you can play with Team Up and have fun,” second-grader Heather Logering said.
Team Up athletes have grown to become a vital part of the school, making a difference in the students’ and teachers’ lives.
“They’ve had not a little impact but a huge impact,” Rollins said. “The kids at recess are happy; they like to go outside. Everyone is included and there are no outsiders. They include everybody — everyone is valuable and everyone is having fun. And it carries over because teachers don’t have as many discipline problems.”
In addition, students have formed strong bonds with the athletes, according to Rollins. Many kids look up to the athletes as their mentors who instill in them the drive to succeed and hopefully become athletes and scholars one day.
Team Up has also fostered friendships between students from different grade levels, and with the inclusion of every student in the games, it has broken down cliques and kept new ones from forming — something that Rollins said is important.
On May 25, Del Mar Heights held a special assembly to thank Team Up for its time and donated $1,000 to UCSD Athletics. Siam, women’s volleyball’s Bonnie Wilson, swimming’s Cole Paffett, women’s basketball’s Kim Buffum, track and field’s Richey Hansen, Associate Athletic Director Wendy Taylor and Sports Information Director Dave Wahlstrom were on hand for the ceremony.
“[Team Up] has been such a joy to us this year and I hope they will keep coming back,” Wardlow said at the assembly.
In addition, 22 students stepped up to the microphone and briefly spoke about Team Up. Some mentioned that the athletes inspired them to become more active and some thanked the athletes for sacrificing their time.
“I like Team Up because they take their time out of their day to just play with us and have fun,” second-grader Tessa Martin said.
The children have also made an impact on the Triton athletes and many hope to continue the program next year.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Siam said. “We literally sit around and talk about the stuff that we do here, what kids said what and what kids did what.”
