DavidWerry -
The Importance of Giving Back
At Carolina our athletic teams and our athletic program have always had a deep commitment to the community and to giving back. And as a student-athlete, you are taught from the beginning the importance of being involved in the community.
However, it's not always easy to find the time. Life as a student-athlete is hectic enough - just juggling classes and practice can be a daunting task. That's where Carolina Dreams was born. At the end of my freshman year I began working to create a program that made it easy for student-athletes to give back. I wanted a meaningful program, but one that catered to the schedules and lives of student-athletes.
For teams, community service is extremely important. It allows players to give to others in the community, and brings the team together in the process. For the athletes, helping others in less fortunate situations brings an important perspective and a fresh appreciation of how lucky they truly are. With all the practice, tough training sessions, travel, and classes, it can be easy to forget how fortunate you are as a player in a Division 1 program...
What is Carolina Dreams ?
Carolina Dreams partners student-athletes from UNC with patients from the North Carolina Children's Hospital. The children, ranging in age from six to twelve, have all been (or currently are) patients at the Children's Hospital. The children and their families are invited to Chapel Hill for a day with the athletes. The day includes lunch, a tour of campus, attending an athlete event and getting recognized during the game - all alongside the student-athletes. Each semester four of these events take place and different teams take turns hosting.
It's amazing to see the childrens' reactions when they get to interact with the athletes all day and especially when they get recognized on the court at the Dean Dome during a basketball game or on the field during a football game. Instead of coming to Chapel Hill for another doctor's appointment or chemo session, they spend the day on a completely different part of campus, hanging out with the athletes.
The Student Athletes
Of course, the children and families (about 15 families come to each event) are thrilled to come to campus and spend the day with the athletes, cheering on the Tar Heels. The reactions from the student-athletes are just as powerful. It?s easy for athletes to feel sorry for themselves because of all their training or to take their physical gifts for granted. When they see what some of these young children have gone through, it gives them a new perspective and appreciation for what they have. To watch a team host one of these events and interact with the children is extremely powerful.
The experience is so gratifying and special to the teams that they always volunteer to host more events. We cannot hold enough events to fulfill the demand from the student-athletes. So many athletes want to do more that we started weekly visits to the cancer clinic. Six or seven players from the same team will go and spend the morning with patients who are being treated for cancer and who spend most of the day in the clinic.
Our lacrosse team has been an incredible supporter of the Carolina Dreams program and the North Carolina Children's Hospital. And the interest from the guys and their enthusiasm in holding more events is incredbile.
It has become so important to our team and coaches that it is now a top priority within the team. There is a certain pride associated with us being involved in the program and in ensuring the program lives on. One of the younger players on the team, Mike Munnelly, started working closely with me last year and is now running Carolina Dreams since I graduated.
Men?s lacrosse at Carolina will always be associated with Carolina Dreams and with being heavily involved at the N.C. Children?s Hospital.
Hoyas Dreams
An article on Carolina Dreams ran in a lacrosse magazine this past spring and sparked interest from other lacrosse programs. Currently plans are underway to start a similar program at Georgetown and the Carolina players have worked with some of the lacrosse players at Georgetown to help them get the program off the ground. Members of the Carolina program have also helped other schools and lacrosse teams brainstorm ways to get their teams more involved in the community.
Everyone recognizes the need and importance of giving back. Making it easy for the student-athletes is the crucial part. Once we had a program in place that made it easy and fun for the student-athletes to give back, we have had more student-athlete volunteers than we could handle. And that's a great thing because the patients at the Children's Hospital cannot wait to come back to spend another day on campus with the athletes.
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David Werry grew up in Oshawa, Ontario where his first exposure to the game was indoors, playing box lacrosse. He was a midfielder for Carolina between 2003 and 2006 and was consistently one of the Tar Heel's top face off
men.
He says his father was the greatest influence on his athletic career in which he excelled in lacrosse and also ice hockey.
In addition to starting the Carolina Dreams Charity while at Carolina, David was on the Dean's List, participated in the Honors Program, and was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. For his efforts, he was one of six finalists chosen nationwide (amongst all collegiate and professional athletes) for The Coach John Wooden Citizenship Cup given annually by Athletes For A Better World.
He currently works in New York City for Morgan Stanley.
-Editor
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Photos courtesy of the University of North Carolina
