Northwestern's
Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) held its 15th annual Field
Day Friday on the Wildcats' FieldTurf practice field, welcoming more than 150 area
kids to meet and interact with some of their favorite NU student-athletes.
Children from
Family Focus, the McGaw YMCA and the Youth Organization Umbrella (Y.O.U.)
visited campus for the afternoon. The 70-member YMCA group remained after Field
Day to attend Northwestern's women's volleyball
match against No. 1 Penn State at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
All 19 Northwestern varsity programs hosted various stations consisting of activities
relevant to their respective sports. Student-athletes either instructed the
young fans on some of the intricacies of their skills or created fun
games for the participants to play.
Each
child had the chance to spend time with multiple Wildcat athletic teams, getting the
opportunity to learn the fundamentals of sports such as fencing, lacrosse, golf and
soccer. The swimmers held a relay race at one station while hosting a land-based version of
their training game "Sharks and Minnows" at another. The fencers showed the basics of their
sport via very safe plastic weapons. Several kids really got into the football
station, launching their 4-foot-tall frames into several non-travel squad members who served as tackling dummies.
Other activities included taking golf, tennis and baseball swings with tennis balls, basketball on lowered hoops and soccer drills and relays. The young girl in the picture below tried her hand at the softball "speed pitch" station, eventually launching the ball 11 miles per hour!
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