April 21, 2008

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Student-athletes from North Carolina and Duke will team up this summer for a program intended to inspire young people around the world and prepare them for higher education. With 10 participants from each campus, Coach for College will launch with a pilot program in July in Vietnam.

The Tar Heels and Blue Devils will work alongside host-country college students who are majoring in physical education. Together they will conduct sports clinics for middle school children ages 11-15 over two three-week camps, using a multi-function "all-sports court" built on the grounds of the partner middle school before the program begins.

Lessons learned in the sports clinics will be reinforced through educational programs that focus on the application of sport to science, entrepreneurship and English. The goal is to increase the ability of youngsters to apply theoretical concepts to real-world situations and to help them develop some of the academic, life and other skills needed to successfully attend a college or university.

The UNC student-athletes participating are senior Bekah Brinkley (volleyball), sophomore Andi Drabot (rowing), junior Carly Dressler (rowing), senior Colleen Farley (women's track and field), senior Shawna Kelly (gymnastics), junior Daniel Llamas (wrestling), senior Colette Lowe (women's golf), junior Lauren Prussing (volleyball), junior Austin Smith (women's tennis) and junior Jessica Wacker (women's fencing).

Duke student-athletes participating are senior Andrew Antila (men's soccer), sophomore Ben Bubnovich (men's track and field), freshman Cassi Carley (women's lacrosse), senior Andrea Crane (women's soccer), sophomore David Eitel (men's fencing), senior Tia Ferguson (women's track and field/cross country), sophomore Amanda Granson (women's tennis), senior Casey Hales (football), senior Greg Meyers (football) and freshman Reka Zsilinszka (women's tennis).

The concept of Coach for College was developed by Parker Goyer, a 2007 Duke graduate and former member of the Blue Devil women's tennis team. Goyer proposed the project this year as part of a fellowship with the Robertson Scholars Program, an undergraduate merit scholarship and leadership development program for students at Duke and UNC.

"When I went to Vietnam and Belize last summer after my graduation, I discovered that many youth in the rural parts of these countries do not have access to sports equipment and infrastructure or to information about issues critical to their personal health and success," said Goyer, who would like the program to eventually involve student-athletes from across the United States. "As a result, such youth less often access higher education. I felt American college athletes' status as highly skilled sports players who attend some of the best higher education institutions in the world placed them in a unique position to help address some of these issues, while also developing their own leadership and intercultural skills."

Goyer expects to work with Vietnam's Can Tho University and Ho Chi Minh City University of Education to pilot the program this summer at the Hoa An Secondary School in the Hau Giang province in preparation for programs there and in Ben Tre province in the summer of 2009.

Coach for College follows the example of DukeEngage, a $30 million initiative launched in 2007 that enables Duke undergraduates to apply classroom theories to real-world issues through immersive experiences at home and abroad. Similarly, Coach for College will foster student-athletes' development as socially conscious citizens and future leaders by providing extracurricular activities they often don't have time to pursue.

Duke Provost Peter Lange wrote to UNC Chancellor James Moeser after learning of Goyer's desire to make the pilot program a collaborative project with UNC. Moeser has pledged to provide funding for the 10 UNC athletes to participate this summer with at least 10 Duke athletes.

"I believe that such a program will be of great assistance as American universities seek to implement many of the recommendations of the Knight Commission and the NCAA Presidential Oversight task force, on which I served as a member," Moeser said. "I have encouraged Parker to work with UNC and Duke to develop a pilot program with the hope that the NCAA might adopt such a visionary concept for nationwide implementation."

Duke has pledged $130,000 toward this summer's pilot program. The NCAA, whose Education Services Department seeks to promote the leadership development of student-athletes, has also pledged support.

Support for UNC students in the program will be awarded through the Carolina Center for Public Service.