Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics
In Focus: AggiesMove Initiative
Nov 09, 2015 | General, Soccer, Center for Student-Athlete Services
Texas A&M Athletics takes great pride in supporting the Bryan/College Station community. Each team participates in various service projects throughout the year. All of those projects bring the Aggies to the community. There is one project, however, that also brings the community back to Texas A&M—the AggiesMove Initiative.
AggiesMove was established two years ago and promotes healthy eating and physical activity for children and youth. Morgan Sinclair and Peter Ritz, the current co-directors of the program, take support staff and Aggie student-athletes to visit a pair of schools in the B/CS community multiple times throughout the year. A different team visits the school at each session. The staff directs a nutrition education activity, while the Aggie student-athletes participate in physical activity with the children. The children also get the chance to ask questions to the Aggies at the end of each session. It's the perfect opportunity for these kids to learn while also getting to spend time with their favorite Aggie athletes.
Sinclair and Ritz have taken the program to a different level, and their passion for the program is easy to see. Since she has seen the program continue to evolve, I asked Sinclair what her favorite part of the project is. It didn't take her long to answer.
"The most exciting part is getting to go to these schools and being able to interact with the kids," says Sinclair. "The kids we work with are rock stars—constantly wanting to learn more. It makes me feel that all the hours we put in behind the scenes and the early mornings are so incredibly worth it. Getting to see their faces light up when they walk into the gym and see us and the athletes we bring is one of the best feelings in the world. The feeling of making an impact in these kids' lives is something that will forever set my heart on fire."
Texas A&M student-athletes share that same passion, which has brought an added dimension to the program. Katherine Huff, a senior swimmer for the Aggies, organizes student-athlete participation in the program and also plans the physical activity portion of each session. While Sinclair, Ritz, Huff and the support staff deserve a ton of credit for the continued success and development of AggiesMove, the buy-in of Aggie student-athletes is something Sinclair is extremely thankful for.
"It blows my mind to see the support we have from our athletes," notes Sinclair. "They come in with such a positive attitude and love getting to interact with the kids. It's such an amazing feeling when you see them so involved in the Bryan/College Station community. We typically have around four student-athletes with us at each session, but we had 15 women's swimmers show up to our first session this year. We try to get the athletes involved during their offseason. Aggie Soccer was so pumped about AggiesMove that they insisted on coming during their season—even with a game the same night."
AggiesMove does not stop when each session is complete. In another way the program has continued to evolve, a newsletter is sent out to keep parents informed on what is being taught to their children. Reaching out to parents has become an important goal of AggiesMove because, as Sinclair understands, lessons taught need to be reinforced.
"That's definitely an important lesson I have learned during my time at A&M as a nutrition major," remarks Sinclair. "You can teach a young child as much as you want, but unless it gets implemented at home as well, nothing is going to change."
As mentioned earlier, AggiesMove is unique in that it brings people back to Texas A&M. How? Children have an opportunity to complete a monthly challenge based on topics covered at each session. Students can then bring the completed monthly challenge back to receive two free tickets to an Aggie sporting event. It's quite a reward for these children to first spend time with (and learn from) Aggie student-athletes and then be able to see them in action. It creates that connection, which adds even more excitement for these young people.
"We have been able to grow beyond what I could imagine," adds Sinclair. "Texas A&M athletics staff members heard about this program and have been on board to help us with whatever we need. Never did I think that we would provide 240 tickets to an Aggie volleyball game, but we've been able to do that with so many kids turning in the monthly challenge."
Sinclair and Ritz are scheduled to graduate in December, but make no mistake. AggiesMove isn't going anywhere, and Sinclair is working hard to ensure the continued success of the program.
"We are in the process of finding someone to continue as nutrition director for the program so we can continue giving back to the community," remarks Sinclair. "Since the beginning, my personal goal with the program was to create a means to educate children about a variety of nutrition topics. Over the course of the past few years, that goal has grown drastically. My vision for this program is that we have nutrition education directors to come for years on end and a constant supply of athletes who are willing to continue supporting the program despite their busy schedules."
AggiesMove—another way Texas A&M Athletics gives back to the B/CS community.
AggiesMove was established two years ago and promotes healthy eating and physical activity for children and youth. Morgan Sinclair and Peter Ritz, the current co-directors of the program, take support staff and Aggie student-athletes to visit a pair of schools in the B/CS community multiple times throughout the year. A different team visits the school at each session. The staff directs a nutrition education activity, while the Aggie student-athletes participate in physical activity with the children. The children also get the chance to ask questions to the Aggies at the end of each session. It's the perfect opportunity for these kids to learn while also getting to spend time with their favorite Aggie athletes.
Sinclair and Ritz have taken the program to a different level, and their passion for the program is easy to see. Since she has seen the program continue to evolve, I asked Sinclair what her favorite part of the project is. It didn't take her long to answer.
"The most exciting part is getting to go to these schools and being able to interact with the kids," says Sinclair. "The kids we work with are rock stars—constantly wanting to learn more. It makes me feel that all the hours we put in behind the scenes and the early mornings are so incredibly worth it. Getting to see their faces light up when they walk into the gym and see us and the athletes we bring is one of the best feelings in the world. The feeling of making an impact in these kids' lives is something that will forever set my heart on fire."
Texas A&M student-athletes share that same passion, which has brought an added dimension to the program. Katherine Huff, a senior swimmer for the Aggies, organizes student-athlete participation in the program and also plans the physical activity portion of each session. While Sinclair, Ritz, Huff and the support staff deserve a ton of credit for the continued success and development of AggiesMove, the buy-in of Aggie student-athletes is something Sinclair is extremely thankful for.
"It blows my mind to see the support we have from our athletes," notes Sinclair. "They come in with such a positive attitude and love getting to interact with the kids. It's such an amazing feeling when you see them so involved in the Bryan/College Station community. We typically have around four student-athletes with us at each session, but we had 15 women's swimmers show up to our first session this year. We try to get the athletes involved during their offseason. Aggie Soccer was so pumped about AggiesMove that they insisted on coming during their season—even with a game the same night."
AggiesMove does not stop when each session is complete. In another way the program has continued to evolve, a newsletter is sent out to keep parents informed on what is being taught to their children. Reaching out to parents has become an important goal of AggiesMove because, as Sinclair understands, lessons taught need to be reinforced.
"That's definitely an important lesson I have learned during my time at A&M as a nutrition major," remarks Sinclair. "You can teach a young child as much as you want, but unless it gets implemented at home as well, nothing is going to change."
As mentioned earlier, AggiesMove is unique in that it brings people back to Texas A&M. How? Children have an opportunity to complete a monthly challenge based on topics covered at each session. Students can then bring the completed monthly challenge back to receive two free tickets to an Aggie sporting event. It's quite a reward for these children to first spend time with (and learn from) Aggie student-athletes and then be able to see them in action. It creates that connection, which adds even more excitement for these young people.
"We have been able to grow beyond what I could imagine," adds Sinclair. "Texas A&M athletics staff members heard about this program and have been on board to help us with whatever we need. Never did I think that we would provide 240 tickets to an Aggie volleyball game, but we've been able to do that with so many kids turning in the monthly challenge."
Sinclair and Ritz are scheduled to graduate in December, but make no mistake. AggiesMove isn't going anywhere, and Sinclair is working hard to ensure the continued success of the program.
"We are in the process of finding someone to continue as nutrition director for the program so we can continue giving back to the community," remarks Sinclair. "Since the beginning, my personal goal with the program was to create a means to educate children about a variety of nutrition topics. Over the course of the past few years, that goal has grown drastically. My vision for this program is that we have nutrition education directors to come for years on end and a constant supply of athletes who are willing to continue supporting the program despite their busy schedules."
AggiesMove—another way Texas A&M Athletics gives back to the B/CS community.
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