SAAC/Women's Soccer Q&A: Bri Visalli
10/19/2015 1:39:00 PM | Women's Soccer, Competing With Purpose Blog
Bri Visalli, a sophomore midfielder on the women's soccer team, is a key member of the Waves.Off the field, she plays an equally important role as co-Vice President of Pepperdine's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). In that position, she discusses how a number of student-athletes recently contributed to the local "Ride a Wave" program.
 
You can find more about the Ride a Wave organization at http://www.rideawave.org/, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Malibuboardriders.
Q: Explain what SAAC is and what you do within the organization?
A: SAAC is the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Part of our initiative is to encourage community service,servant leadership and sportsmanship through our athletes. We do so by electing representatives from each team on campus so we can connect with each sport. My official title is the Vice President of Community Service, which focuses on getting our student-athletes involved in community service and reaching out to our community.Â
Q: What is "Ride a Wave" and to whom does it reach out to?
A: Ride a Wave is an organization founded by Danny Cruz, a member of the Santa Cruz Long-boarders union. It was originally started here in Malibu, with the Malibu Board-riders Association. From there, he moved back to Northern California, where I first found my love for the organization in high school when I originally volunteered with them.
The organization takes kids with special needs, which can range from autism to cerebral palsy to Down's syndrome and everything in between. They take these kids, sometimes as a class party at schools, and take them to the beach for a beach day. The beach day entails showing up and meeting their beach buddies,which are the trained water personnel, usually from the California Lifeguard Association, and then doing kayaking, surfing and boogie boarding events. The kids are taken into the water, which is a lot of the time not normal for them,and sometimes will never happen for these kids. It's a spectacular event
During our event, those beach buddies actually included our student-athletes. What we did was pair up with a child for the day, regardless of whether they wanted to get in the water or not. Some of us were in the water, others were on the beach building sand castles and giving temporary tattoos.
The kids show up typically around 9 a.m., sign in, meet their beach buddy and head over to the "Rambo Relay," which is a little warm-up course for the kids to get ready for their day. It is a dug-out sand pit, which is the hardest part in terms of labor for the beach buddies, because we have to get there early and dig out a trench. The kids run through it and have a great time. There are a couple surfboards stacked on each other that the kids have to run under, and seaweed they have to traverse around. From there, they get their wetsuits, get in the water and begin their day. Then we get a lunch, usually sponsored by another organization.
Q: When was this event held, and where?
A: Our event was held September 21st, at Leo Carillo State Beach.
Q: What was your part in this event/outing?
A: My part was making sure that our student-athletes were eligible through the NCAA to be able to help, through compliance forms being filled out. I also coordinated with the head of the Malibu Board riders Association, who was in charge of the day at the beach. I made sure all of our athletes knew the coordination and scheduling of the event, and that the head of the Board riders knew how many volunteers we were bringing.
Q: Why did you use this specific organization for SAAC?
A: This organization is near and dear to my heart because it really changed my life in high school.Specifically for SAAC and our student-athletes, I thought it would be a unique opportunity instead of some of the things we typically do, but that donating our time and giving time to some kids who are here on a regular basis would be more special and heartwarming.
Q: Did it make an impact on our athletes?
A: Yes! In fact, I received a ton of positive feedback, not only from our athletes, but from the organization as well. I hope to build a relationship with numerous Pepperdine student-athletes to continue this tradition.
Q: What else can we,both as athletes and non-athletes reading this, do to help with this organization/cause?
A: In the future, giving time is the easiest and cheapest way to give back. Your time is free, and that is what they are really seeking. The other thing would be getting in contact with the organization to see if you can donate, either services or money and food.
