May 14, 2010
By Libby Knight, Illinois Sports Information
The Illinois swimming and diving team continues its dominance in the Douglas C. Roberts Illini CHAMPS Team Competition Award by being named the Hometown Heroes Team of the Year for the fifth straight year, and the seventh time in the eight-year history of the life skills competition.
"I am very proud of the commitment they have to giving back to the community and to their other student-athletes," head coach Sue Novitsky said. "They try to make the best of everything and get the most out of their college experience. It's always good to see them participate and get involved in a lot of different things."
The Douglas C. Roberts Illini CHAMPS Team Competition is a friendly competition between all University of Illinois intercollegiate athletic teams that encourages student-athletes to become involved in activities in the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA), on campus and within the community. The competition was started in the 2002-03 academic year and focuses on four categories, including community service, Student-Athletes Supporting Student-Athletes, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) participation and communication, and personal enhancement. The award provides a way for the DIA to acknowledge the many positive things the Illinois student-athletes do on campus and within the community.
Teams earn points by participating in activities within the four categories, with 100 points awarded when 60% or more of the team participates in an event and two points for each individual team member when less than 60% of a team participates. During the 2009-2010 academic year the swimming and diving student-athletes accumulated 4,440 points, which was 1,056 points more than their closest competitor, women's cross country.
"The women's swimming and diving team truly embraces the initiatives of the Douglas C. Roberts Illini CHAMPS/Life Skills program through their participation in this competition," said Kathy Kaler, academic counselor for Academic Services. "They hold each other accountable in excelling in this competition to earn the coveted award. These student-athletes excel in all areas: supporting their fellow student-athletes, achieving success in and out of the classroom, volunteering their time within the community, motivating each other, and creating pride in being an Illini."
The coaching staff does not initiate or put emphasis on winning the award. The players organize themselves and take pride in the fact that they have won the award seven times in eight years.
"The players do it all," Novitsky said. "We don't set the goal that we need to win it. It's become sort of a tradition. They expect to win, so they organize themselves and get everything rolling to get the points."
Seniors Courtney Spivak, CeCe Marizu, and Morgan Gilman, along with sophomore Rachel Japp are catalysts in getting the team organized for the different events they participate in, such as Relay For Life or attending a men's tennis match.
"Our team organizes it's service events by announcements at practice, team emails, or sometimes even mass text messages," Spivak said. "We have a great line of communication between the girls on the team and fully utilize that when it comes to scheduling events, such as Hometown Heroes. Being an SAAC co-chair makes winning this award even more special for me this year. It is something that the girls on the team really care about and I think that our record of winning this award truly shows the character of our team."
Novitsky believes the competition is an important one for the student-athletes on the Illinois campus to take part in and is proud that her team takes a great interest in the competition.
"It provides the athletes the chance to support the other teams and meet the other athletes," Novitsky said. "This is important so that they can break out of their own little world and see how everyone else is doing. The programs and events that they do, along with the other aspects of the competition, help the student-athletes enhance themselves as a person. I think it's a neat competition, and it's a neat program to help them get the most out of their experience at Illinois."
