BY: HENRY GREENFOXSPORTSOHIO.COM
The Baldwin Wallace University Football Team took the field Saturday at Finnie Stadium looking to send a message to rival Mount Union. At the same time, a large contingent of student athletes took to the stands with a message of their own.
That message: “BWU Sports Lives On”. The athletes wanted to show their unity following a week in which they found out all of their postseason dreams for the 2012-2013 were going to stay, well just that, dreams.
Baldwin Wallace University self-imposed a one year postseason ban on all sports during the 2012-2013 season after finding irregularities in some of the financial aid packages given to their student athletes. The ban came on Tuesday, October 30th when both the Women’s Soccer Team and Women’s Volleyball team were about to head out for postseason play. Both of those games had to be forfeited by the University.
After a week filled with disappointment and anger on the part of the athletes, the idea to rally around the Senior Day football game against Mount Union surfaced from within the student body.
“We initially took the news extremely hard, especially my fellow seniors, who will never have a chance to make the OAC Playoffs throughout our careers at Baldwin Wallace,” said Second Team All-OAC Left Fielder senior Brendan Toughey.
“But then after getting an opportunity to digest the situation, we as athletes came together and collectively decided to approach each day with great effort, attitude, and positivity,” Toughey explained. The first step in showing the new-found positive outlook was to provide a united front at the football game and make a statement that BW sports were here to stay.
“It was great to hear all the student-athletes in the stands,” said Junior Punter Matt Harmon reflecting on the loss to Mount Union. “It really made us feel like we were all in this situation together and we knew that each and every one of us had the others back.”
During the game, you could see athletes sporting everything from American Flags to banners reading “BWU Sports Live On”. Some students even wrote messages on the back of their student-athlete shirts posting the date (10/30/12) the ban occurred and reiterating the unity of the athletic community.
One leader of the movement, Brooke Hradisky, a Junior Cross Country and Track athlete, said organizers will be trying to get student athletes to attend as many events and games as possible. “We all realized we had to come together and make our voices heard,” Hradisky said. “Attending sporting events as an athletic community is a great way to make a statement about the strength of our student athletes.”
Against Mount Union, the score may not have reflected the heart, but those voices proclaiming “BWU Sports Live On” were heard.
