ATH: Joe Heskett of Buckeye Wrestling Speaks about Opportunity to LiFE Sports Campers – Ohio State Buckeyes
7/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | General
Assistant wrestling coach was feature speaker during College and Career Day June 25
Joe Heskett, an assistant coach on the Ohio State wrestling staff, was the featured speaker last Thursday during College and Career Day for LiFE Sports on the OSU campus.
Heskett, who saw his Olympic wrestling career cut short by a heart ailment discovered in 2007, stressed to the campers to seize the opportunity they have each and every day this summer during the LiFE Sports program.
“It is one thing to learn it in sport and it is another to transfer that into everyday life,” Heskett, now in his fourth year with the two-time national runner-up Buckeyes, said. “That is what life sports is about. Find those positive influences in your life. You are here for a reason. Take advantage of it.”
Heskett earned his bachelor’s degree in speech communications from Iowa State in 2002 before graduating from Cal Poly with a master’s degree, with honors, in educational leadership in 2005.
LiFE Sports continues on the Ohio State campus through July 10.
More About LiFE Sports
In April, LiFE Sports was the recipient of a University Outreach and Excellence in Engagement Grant of $56,000 to aid in funding the program for the next two years.
LiFE Sports has emerged from the NYSP program Ohio State originally piloted in 1968. Government funding for NYSP was cut in 2006 and the number of national colleges and universities holding NYSP summer programs dropped dramatically from more than 200 to less than 30 in 2008.
Dr. Jerry Davis, LiFE program director and assistant director of athletics event management, envisions LiFE Sports not only as a setting for continued summer learning, but a year-round enrichment program intended to utilize sport as a vehicle to teach important life skills that can be transferred to other contexts.
“This is a university program spearheaded by the Department of Athletics, the College of Social Work and Rec Sports to pursue providing a year-round program through a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Columbus,” Davis said.
As in the past with NYSP, LiFE Sports will continue to engage current and past Ohio State students and student-athletes as instructors, mentors and speakers each year. This year, former Ohio State running back Maurice Wells and current Buckeye softball home run record-holder Sam Marder are among the group of active participants in the camp.
List of Ohio State student-athletes participating in LiFE Sports in 2009:
Swimming
Anita Beck
Shelby Gordan
Michael Hulme
Robert Jenrow
Elliot Keefer
Jayson King
Benjamin Savonen
Mary Ann Wiser
Track and Field
Kelsey Kuzmic
Football
Jamie Wood
Maurice Wells
Soccer
Vanessa Spears
Softball
Brittany Goodchild
Samantha Marder
