To kick it off

In the Indiana Daily Student's sports section, readers get a lot of information about athletes and get snippets of quotes from them but rarely get the chance to experience sports from an athlete's point of view. The IDS and IU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee have teamed up to start a biweekly column written by the very athletes you often see and read about.\nThe topics of these columns are not set in advance, and we hope to get feedback and questions from readers to help shape the columns. Our goal is to present a realistic picture of the collegiate student athlete as much more than a "dumb jock."\nThe life of a student athlete seems glamorous and in many ways is quite glorious. We are grateful for the free clothes, free shoes, free trips and, for many, but not all athletes, free or reduced-price education. In the process of representing IU across the country, we get to work with amazing coaches, trainers, advisers and administrators and learn valuable life skills like such as teamwork and discipline. It is important to note, though, that most students never see the behind-the-scenes morning weight sessions, recovery and rehabilitation in the training room, hours at study tables or packed schedules that student-athletes take on every day.\nOne of student athletes' many extracurricular activities is called the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. This is an NCAA-sponsored group, and each university in the NCAA has one. IU has two official representatives from every sports team on our SAAC, but all athletes are invited to come to any of our biweekly meetings. At those meetings, we discuss and address the concerns of student athletes and communicate with the athletic department about those items. In this way, we are sort of a student council for athletes. Athletic administrators often come to our meetings to get our feedback and input on current or future policies.\nAs part of the Big Ten and NCAA SAAC, we make our views heard on NCAA legislation and help protect the best interests of the students in the increasingly business-like atmosphere of collegiate athletics.\nA large component of our work in SAAC is to get student athletes active in the community. Every year student athletes go to schools around the Bloomington area to read to kids as part of Read Across America. Each women's sport sets up a booth in Assembly Hall during one women's basketball game as part of National Women in Sports Month. In the spring, we invite members of the Boys & Girls Club to watch a baseball and softball game with IU athletes and get their favorite players' autographs. Outside of SAAC, many individual athletes and teams volunteer on their own initiative for everything from the Hoosier Hills Food Bank to Wonderlab.\nThat is just a little introduction to who we are and what we do. Readers can look forward to future columns from other IU athletes themselves, and we look forward to answering questions about what really goes on off the field. Contact Justin Montrie, a junior diver and SAAC member, at jjmontri@indiana.edu with questions and comments.