Three-Team Dream Making a Difference in the Community
2/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Community Engagement
By Brad Rudner
Spend a few minutes around former Michigan field hockey player Ainsley McCallister and you'll find that she's one selfless individual.
For the born-and-bred Ann Arbor native, McCallister is a strong believer in putting other people before yourself. Few things are more important than helping her community, whether that community is the one she's lived in for 22 years or one that she's only a part of for weeks at a time during one of her many charitable trips.
Those beliefs were strengthened during her four years as a field hockey player at the University of Michigan. Serving with Young Life and Athletes In Action (AIA), McCallister gave up her four spring breaks to instead take community engagement trips (not community service; she doesn't like that word) to Los Angeles (twice), the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
But it was one of those trips that she learned that her efforts weren't enough. Rather, they weren't good enough.
During her junior year AIA trip to Los Angeles, McCallister was listening to a local social worker, Michael Motta, when he said, "What you're doing is great, but it doesn't actually make a difference."
Imagine sitting there and hearing that. You just volunteered your last six days -- and a potential trip to a much warmer, more tropical place -- to serve children in need. With that statement, Motta figuratively dropped the mic and walked off the stage, leaving McCallister and many of the other volunteers aghast.
"Initially I thought it was kind of rude," she recalls. "We gave our week to do service. We would like to think we're making some type of difference. But the more we thought about what he said, the more it was true. We go in and spend time engaging with these kids, but our impact does not have a long-term effect, and they likely won't remember us after we leave."
"His point was they're going to forget about you. They might remember your name if someone brings it up, but you're just a memory and gone. And you might not even be that. It was actually pretty hard to hear."
But it struck a chord. The biggest takeaway for McCallister was learning that you can make more of an impact -- more of a difference -- through relationships. That's where the idea for Athletes For Community Transformation was born.
The program, which she created with the input and assistance from former men's soccer player Ezekiel Harris and former volleyball player Lexi Erwin, centers around three varsity teams "adopting" a community center, in this case the Bryant Community Center. Bryant is part of the Community Action Network, a series of four community centers in the Ann Arbor area.
Since the beginning of October, four representatives from the field hockey, ice hockey and women's tennis teams have visited the Center every other Tuesday. For the student-athletes, it's a year-long commitment designed to provide mentorship to boys and girls from sixth grade to 12th grade. Many of these kids come from low-income, under-resourced families and are looking for positive role models.
Skylar Woodman, the assistant director and after-school program coordinator at Bryant, knew of McCallister from her work at Hikone, one of the neighboring centers. The site at Hikone underwent some changes over the years that affected its numbers, allowing Bryant to grow to the largest site in the network.
In a way, Woodman and McCallister were perfect trade partners. The children at Bryant needed mentors, while McCallister and her throng of fellow student-athletes were eager for an opportunity. Woodman says the visits are something his kids look forward to all week long.
"The thing I really like about it is, our kids aren't that far away from where they are," he said. "They can see what it's like to be a college student right in front of them. They can see what it'll take to get there. It's sort of like a prize. Ainsley and all the other student-athletes come in here and are perfect models for that."
The time spent together on Tuesday nights consists of a 90-minute activity designed to enhance a certain life skill, like trust or responsibility. It would start with an icebreaker like, "What are you most looking forward to in 2015?" Following that would be a fun activity that relates to the specific theme. On one visit, the theme of the day was respect, so they would pair up and write a song about it (and no, they couldn't sing Aretha Franklin's version). Some were poems, while others were raps. Then, to close the day, they would sit and talk more in-depth about it.
The best part, McCallister says, is seeing the friendships blossom. On one visit, the field hockey players brought some gear with them to show and even went over some tactics. Many of the kids had never seen the game be played before. It made such an impact that they showed up to a game to support McCallister and her teammates, a positive reaffirmation that yes, the program is working.
"Honestly, I think we get more out of it than they do," she said.
The program isn't even a full year old yet, meaning there's more room to grow. After every visit, the student-athletes that participated will spend some time to debrief, going over what went well and what can be improved. As McCallister explains, they're always talking about what can change in order to get better.
The "Three-Team Dream," as she jokingly calls it, is also gaining more traction within the Michigan Athletics community. Since its dependent upon building year-long relationships, the program won't expand until next fall at the earliest when they can pair another community center with three more teams. In the meantime, McCallister has turned over management of the program to former women's tennis player Brooke Bolender, as she'll spend the next four months playing professional for Beeston Hockey Club in Nottingham, England.
Still, for student-athletes that want to lend a helping hand to their surrounding community, McCallister has a simple message.
"As student-athletes, we don't have a lot of free time, but if you want to find time to give back, you can," she said. "Look at the number of people that go to Mott's every week. It's huge. You go there and you might have had a bad day of practice. That could bring you down. But you go there and see that it isn't the end of the world. I think community service and engagement brings perspective and balance, which is so important to student-athletes."
