Beyond their sports

Flyers on a team support each other. And at UD, Flyer teams support other teams. It’s camaraderie, but it’s competitive camaraderie. They keep score.

Athletes are encouraged to attend the competitions of other teams. They gain points in the Flyer Challenge on a weighted basis; for example, more points are given for having to travel a distance. A system elsewhere on campus awards points for engagement and attendance at certain events; those points are used for rankings in the housing lottery. Flyer Challenge is different; success in the Flyer Challenge yields mostly just bragging rights — winning is its own reward.

Flyer Challenge, chaired by senior Sam Duncan of the men’s cross country team, is one of the subcommittees of UD’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Other committees are social (which puts on the athletic awards known as the RUDYS), wellness (in recent years mental health in particular has surfaced as an issue), DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), community service and social media.

SAAC’s president is Derek Willits ’23, fifth-year senior football wide receiver and co-captain and the 2023 Presidential Scholar-Athlete for men’s Flyer sports. For the coming year, he sees a SAAC focus on communication and interteam interaction such as Flyer Challenge, shared service projects (including athletes partnering with children at Christmas on Campus) and mental health initiatives.

An initiative related to mental health is Take Flight, a holistic development program. All students face issues with the transition from high school to college and from college to the “real world.” Some of these are intensified for athletes. All face the process of developing interview skills and creating résumés. A pragmatic presentation last year was on financial literacy (attractively titled, “Money. Money. Money.”). Athletes must also confront the realization that their sport — which has been central for most of their lives — will no longer be their primary focus once they graduate.

Doing a Take Flight program this year will be a familiar name, Jordan Sibert ’15, who led the 2014-15 basketball Flyers in minutes, scoring, three-point baskets, foul shooting and steals. Sibert now helps college athletes prepare themselves, Willits said, “for adult life, leaving sports, mental health, dealing with distraction, mindfulness, leadership and relationships.”

“He helped me set my mental state for my final year.”