USF Athletics, Florida Blue Team up for Virtual “A Day in Green and Gold”
TAMPA, Fla., April 22, 2021 – USF Athletics, partnered with Florida Blue, hosted the first virtual and fifth annual “A Day in Green and Gold” event this week, impacting six local Boys and Girls Clubs and 150 children in the Tampa Bay area.
Each year, USF typically hosts an on-campus event for boys and girls from local Boys and Girls Club locations to come to campus, interact with student-athletes, and enjoy a fun and educational day as a Bull. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic halted the event for the first time. But USF student-athletes and the student-athlete enhancement team worked with Florida Blue to present A Day in Green and Gold virtually on Monday, April 19.
Florida Blue teamed up with the Bulls to donate 150 t-shirts, drawstring bags, sunglasses and masks, which were distributed to children from the following Boys and Girls Club locations: Freddie Solomon, Temple Terrace, Vinik Family, Morgan Woods, Town ‘n’ Country and Garcia Salesian.
“The USF Green and Gold event was an amazing experience,” said Toneice Evans, club director for the Vinik Family Boys and Girls club. “Our members were exposed to the various sports teams at USF. Members didn’t realize that were sports other than basketball, football, and baseball or your more well-known sports that are played in college. Many left the event truly wanting to be a collegiate athlete especially after learning that they could go to college for free just by playing a sport they love.”
On Monday, the children joined USF student-athletes on Zoom to discuss the benefits of sport, education, health and physical fitness in life. Children were able to play virtual games and ask the student-athletes questions and enjoy getting to know each other. USF student-athletes led the kids through exercises, trivia questions, and shared their real life stories to success in college athletics.
“I led some exercises at the end of the event, and the kids participated with us,” baseball student-athlete Jack Jasiak said. “The best part of the event was seeing all the kids in the Tampa [Bay] area and the smiles on their faces.”
An important part of the day involved inspiring kids to reach for the stars in their futures. This successful event was the fifth “Day in Green and Gold” hosted by USF, and the Bulls hope to continue the on-campus tradition safely in future years.
“We are so grateful to our partners at Florida Blue for helping to pull off the virtual version of our annual Day in Green and Gold event,” assistant director of student-athlete enhancement Tayler Onion said. “Through their generous donations, we were able to provide the same giveaways we normally do when the event is held in person on campus. It’s always a joy to see our student-athletes interact with local youth and share their experiences as students and as athletes.”
About USF Athletics
USF Athletics sponsors 19 varsity men’s and women’s teams that compete in 11 different sports, 18 at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls’ athletic program began in 1965 and is in its 55th season in 2020-21. Nearly 450 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of the campus in Tampa, Fla. The Bulls have claimed 19 American Athletic Conference team titles since joining the conference in 2013 and own 120 conference titles overall. The Bulls posted a combined annual grade-point average over 3.0 for the fifth straight year in 2019-20 and have posted a program record 11 straight semesters with a combined GPA over 3.0. USF has had nearly 400 student-athletes earn their degree since 2016-17.
– GoBulls –