The 北科罗拉多大学 (UNC) has been lucky to have donor support for 多年的体育项目. 而每个捐赠者给出的个人理由是 specific to their philanthropic interest and ambitions, speaking with one of our coaches 给s some insight into the areas donor support directly impacts 体育运动 programs.
UNC’s Head Women’s Basketball Coach Kristen Mattio has had a long and successful career that has taken her all over the country to work with women’s basketball teams. 她 knows the ins and outs of what sets a team up for success, whether it be at practice 或以其他方式. This fall, the women’s basketball team launched the Excellence Initiative, a crowdfunding campaign which was fortunate enough to have public support and the 支持一位配捐者.
Speaking about the impact and importance of exceeding the $20,000 goal set this fall, Mattio illuminates what is on the horizon for women’s basketball thanks to the generosity 所有付出过并将继续付出的人.
Q: Does anything about the UNC women’s basketball team stick out to you as unique from 以前和你一起工作过的人?
A:每个团队都是独一无二的. Every team is different, every year, every group of 18- to 22岁的孩子. 我喜欢的是我在学校执教的领域 at. There are the actual people within the program, and then there’s this area behind 它也. We have a good group of girls, and I think we recruit players that have a high level of expectation, athletically and academically. 对我来说，这就是 group really represents: their passion and pride to not just show up on the court 但也要在学术上产生影响.
Q: What does it mean to have the 支持一位配捐者 like 烹饪 & Cossio Attorneys did this fall for the UNC women’s basketball program?
A: It just allows us to really double our resources and experiences we’re providing 致我们的团队. 我们认为这对我们团队的表现至关重要. 我们正在努力提高 all areas of our program, and a big area that we’ve talked about this past year is overall wellbeing and making sure that they’re taken care of. 营养是 we focused on because we think that’s important for our team.
That matching gift allows us to not just touch the surface but go deeper and provide 精英中的精英. If we’re talking about nutrition, it’s not just providing a meal and skipping by, it’s “can we feed them well and healthfully?“就是这样 (配对礼物)有. It took the efforts of a lot of people that gave and doubled it.
Q: What do you see this type of funding doing for your program in the future?
A:如果可以的话，我愿意继续与……合作 烹饪 & Cossio律师. What we were trying to really focus on with our Excellence Initiative were four areas: nutrition, enhanced travel experience, technology and 创新. Some of those technologies are things that allow us to better observe our players, like understanding heart rates and sleep analytics.
I go back to nutrition because that was an area that we were really lacking—having 我们团队的营养健康空间. 意思是他们刚下课就来了 and then have practice; [we want to make sure] they have something that they can grab 快点吃.
The way they represent the university is different from some of the other students, 尤其是在他们旅行的地方. 我们在七天内只打了三场比赛，但是 其中两个人在两个不同的州. 问题是我们能否拥有更多 of a catered team meal versus a fast-food team meal – which we don’t eat fast food – but it makes a difference in the ways we can take care of and serve the student 代表我们大学的运动员.
That’s what we think of for down the road, that we continue to do things with excellence. That’s why we called it the Excellence Initiative, it allows us to do things at a 更高层次.
Q: Is there anything you would like the Bear community to know about the women’s basketball 团队，他们可能还没有?
A: Just like any organization on campus, we just represent [the university] from a 运动平台. Our girls are in the community, and they’re obviously crushing it 在篮球场上. The last two years, we’ve been ranked in the top 25 academically. There are about 358 Division I schools, my first year we were number 10 and the last 那年我们是第23名.
We talk about “blue collar, gold standard,” that’s what these girls represent. 他们 work hard, they’re you, they’re me, but they’re just 18- to 22- year-olds right now 在各个领域都有高水平的运作.
We’d love to have people come out and support us and watch us. 我想他们真的会 喜欢看他们玩耍. It’s cool that you’re taking a second to highlight us and 烹饪 & Cossio律师 as well, who provided a matching gift because that was incredible. 太不可思议了.
The generosity and support of donors have enabled women’s basketball, and every 体育运动 program across campus, to support their students at a higher level. 集资”活动 like the Excellence Initiative are imperative to the success of our student athletes, especially as they travel and represent UNC across the country. 有时，基金 raised can be the deciding factor in whether a team can travel or not.
Support women’s basketball this week by coming out and cheering them on as they play 蒙大拿，下午6点.m. 1月. 下午11点，蒙大拿州大学2点.m. 1月. 13、在家.
