Indianapolis, IN – State University of New York at New Paltz women's soccer rising junior Kristin Lasker attended the NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) national committee meeting July 20-21, as she met and collaborated with fellow DIII student-athletes and SAAC members from across the country.

While in Indianapolis Lasker, who will serve as the Hawks SAAC president for the upcoming 2018-19 academic year, had the opportunity to sit and discuss her opinion on various topics during the two-day gathering. Although there were student-athletes from different sports, some who were making their second or third appearance at the national meeting, everyone was determined to achieve the overall goal, which is to enhance the Division III experience for all student-athletes in the country.

"To be able to meet and immediately converse with representatives from Division III athletic conferences all over the country was an unbelievable experience," Lasker said. "There was a great sense of unity among this group from the minute I landed in Indianapolis. Some of these athletes have been working together for years now, and they were more than excited to welcome all of the new representatives and hear about our experiences and ideas." 

A goal of the July meeting was to form opinions on a variety of legislative proposals, which will eventually be voted on at the NCAA Convention in January 2020. Lasker had the opportunity to voice her thoughts on a myriad of subjects and held a vote on each matter. The impact of her vote wasn't lost on Lasker, who understood the importance of having a say in what will affect both her, and her fellow DIII student-athletes.

"The best part of this experience without a doubt was having the privilege to express my opinion on a variety of matters," she said. "To have that impact on the student-athlete vote at the national level was surreal."

Throughout various topics covered, an overlying theme NCAA was pushing was a mental health awareness initiative they want all student-athletes a part of. Working alongside national SAAC members, NCAA is launching a #breakthestigma social media campaign later this year. The overall goal is to get all student-athletes to participate in an easy and effective way. NCAA is also hoping to get select celebrities on board to promote the initiative, but more information is slated to be finalized within the coming months.

"Discussions that I have participated in that regard this issue have been extensive at the institutional, conference and now national level," Lasker explained. "[The] plan goes hand-in-hand with what we are working to do at SUNY New Paltz. My goal is to hear the voices of the New Paltz student-athletes and to be able to voice a collective opinion from our school SAAC to contribute to the national conversation."

NCAA's mental health campaign runs parallel with SUNY New Paltz's initiative, as the Hawks have also pushed mental health awareness throughout the department. In the past two years, SUNY New Paltz hosted guest speaker Kate Fagan, who talked about her book, "What Made Maddy Run," while also speaking with student-athletes about mental health and the stigma that surrounds the topic. SAAC hosted various "Green out Games" in supporting mental health awareness, while the department launched "Athletes Together" last spring, a site that hopes to be a source for student-athletes dealing or know peers dealing with the issue.

After going over administrative items as a group, each member had the opportunity to choose a sub-group they wanted to continue discussing. Lasker gravitated toward the Inclusion working group, which talked about mental health awareness, inclusion in the LGBTQ+ community, privilege in athletics and more.

"Within the past year, I have seen a tremendous effort by our athletic department to bring attention to mental health awareness at our games and on our campus," Lasker said. "The National SAAC Inclusion group has already inspired new ideas that can be brought back to campus. I am excited to touch base with this group as the school year progresses, because there are many other subcategories… I also feel that the significance of this working group has a significant meaning to our athletic department, because our very own SAAC is prioritizing a Diversity and Inclusion subcommittee, in which I am looking forward to corresponding with."

Throughout the convention, Lasker picked up different ideas she hopes to bring back to campus and SUNYAC SAAC. Something SUNY New Paltz SAAC already began implanting from national SAAC is the sub-committees established within the entire organization with staff liaisons helping guide each group. The hope is to have every SAAC member more involved by having smaller committees focusing on different topics. Lasker is a big part of that change, as she will lead the executive committee as president for the upcoming year, the first with the new structure in place.

"The structure that New Paltz SAAC will have going into this year will be groundbreaking. We will be able to focus on all of the initiatives our SAAC was created for, including our emphasis on Special Olympics, diversity and inclusion, social media and promotion, and more," Lasker said. "Now I see us easily being able to host more events, promote topics of awareness for longer periods of time and increase the rates of participants, while simultaneously engaging every member of SAAC and utilizing their skills."

After all the discussions and meetings that took place during the two-day committee meeting there was still time to fit in some fun games, including a Special Olympics Cornhole Tournament that concluded the trip. Lasker's team consisted of two SAAC representatives, a member of the NCAA Management Council and a Special Olympics athlete. She formed a friendship with her teammate Danielle, a Special Olympics athlete, who happened to live not too far from Lasker on Long Island.

"I loved getting to know Danielle, who was a local [Special Olympics] athlete, who shared her love for all sorts of games with me," Lasker said. "We even laughed about the Long Island traffic, since her mother used to live two towns over from my hometown. At the end of the tournament, Danielle's skills won us the championship title for our bracket. It was such a fun and memorable experience."

Lasker plans on heading back to the National SAAC meeting again in January, which will be held in Anaheim, California. She is encouraged by the experience she had in Indianapolis and is excited to bring ideas back to campus with her to lead a successful year for SUNY New Paltz SAAC.

"Words can't even describe how honored I am to be able to kick off my representation of the SUNYAC last weekend at the NCAA National Office with such a hardworking and kindhearted group of people," Lasker said. "I have a lot of work to do within these next few months, but my fellow committee members have expressed time and time again that they'll have my back along the way. When I meet back up with the National SAAC next January in Anaheim, California, I am anticipating hearing all of the success stories from the first semester as we get working on the second semester to come."

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