Fields & Laufenberg Represent UNC At APPLE Training Conference

Sydnye Fields and Madison Laufenberg, both members of the Tar Heel volleyball team, represented Carolina Athletics at the APPLE Training Conference Jan. 19-21 in Charlottesville, Va., learning to promote health and help combat substance abuse among their peers.

Fields is a redshirt sophomore from Missouri City, Texas, who is majoring in chemistry with a minor in Spanish for the professions. Laufenberg is a junior from Castle Rock, Colo., who is majoring in exercise and sport science.

The conference is an opportunity for student-athletes and administrators to begin to work collaboratively to create and implement an action plan on their respective campuses. The UNC group returned to Chapel Hill with a plan to designate a representative from each Tar Heel team to serve as a point person to provide information or guidance regarding any issues related to substance use.

"Essentially, this person of contact will be someone who is available on weekends for emergency-based situations," Fields said. "This person will be someone who can be called on for advice on how to handle situations and can offer rides if someone needs it. We think this idea can be very impactful at our university to help promote safe engagements and activities. We know people want to go out and have fun but we want them to be responsible doing it."

All schools bring two or more student-athletes and an administrator. Cricket Lane, Associate A.D. for Student-Athlete Development, attended along with the UNC student-athletes.

"It's always a great experience for our student-athletes," Lane said. "The conference setting is sometimes new to them – they can choose different breakout sessions and zero in on their interests. They have a great time interacting with student-athletes from other schools, and end up getting lots of ideas. And then we return to campus with an action plan to impact their fellow UNC student-athletes. The whole experience is really outstanding for them."

The APPLE Training Institutes, developed and coordinated by the Gordie Center for Substance Abuse Prevention at the University of Virginia and funded by the NCAA, are the leading national substance abuse prevention and health promotion conferences for student-athletes and athletics department administrators. The goal of the APPLE Training Institute is to assist colleges in applying the comprehensive APPLE model to their campus environment. Over the course of a weekend, student-athletes and administrators create an institution-specific action plan to prevent student-athlete substance abuse and promote health and wellness.

"This was my second year attending the APPLE conference and both years I was able to bring back new knowledge and ideas to UNC," Laufenberg said. "The most impactful part of the conference for me was meeting athletes from other schools and learning how they implement Student-Athlete Mentor Programs and Leadership development. A large part of these programs is educating young athletes about what it means to be a student-athlete, and I think we were able to bring back some new strategies to educate young Tar Heels. It was also nice to be able to help schools who are just starting these programs with ideas and share with them what is great about our programs."

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Fields & Laufenberg Represent UNC At APPLE Training Conference

Players Mentioned

Sydnye Fields

Madison Laufenberg

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