NEW ORLEANS - The University of New Orleans athletic program provided a
helping hand at a pair of Charter School Field Day events last Friday
afternoon.
The Privateer swimming and diving teams in addition to the
Lady Privateer basketball team stepped up to the plate to provide volunteer
manpower to make these field day events a success.
Head swimming and diving coach Randy Horner and his staff took
roughly 30 swimmers and divers, who were not involved in orientation
activities, to Gentilly Terrace Elementary on Painters Street.
For the Privateer swimmers and divers, it was only their
second time together as a group following a team meeting the night before.
The event gave the team more time to spend with each other and
get to know their community after having arrived to the Lakefront over the days
leading up to the event.
“This was a great chance for our team to bond as our first
group activity,” said freshman swimmer Ashley Aranda. “We had a fun time
helping out in the community.”
The team arranged different activities for the pre-school
through second-graders at Gentilly Terrace. Some of the activities included
baseball and face painting with the most popular according to Horner, being
parachute games.
Lady Privateer head coach Amy Champion, her staff and the
entire women's basketball team headed over to Capdau Elementary on Franklin Avenue
where they took part in events for third through fifth graders.
For the women's basketball team, this was the first time the
entire team, including the 2008-09 newcomers had been together.
“We
had a great time with the kids at Capdau Elementary,” said Lady Privateers
director of operations Angela Marin, who oversees the team's involvement with
the charter school program.
“Our
athletes got to be kids along with those at the school and they loved it. They played with hula-hoops, had hopscotch
contests and helped out in several basketball games. We look forward to
visiting other local schools in the months ahead.”
These school visits kicked off what will be a recurring
involvement with the New Orleans
Charter Schools
and these two programs.
