University of North Carolina Athletics
Wagner Enjoys A Different Kind of Summer Vacation
September 24, 2014 | Softball, Carolina Outreach
Elly Wagner didn't have your typical summer vacation. While others were relaxing by the pool, she was in rural Vietnam teaching math and baseball to sixth and seventh graders.
The junior outfielder of the UNC softball team spent the entire month of June with Coach for College, a service learning program that brings together US student-athletes and Vietnamese university students to teach academics, sports and life skills at summer camps to children in rural Vietnam.
According to its website, Coach for College seeks to capitalize on the popularity of sports to reintegrate into universities two groups currently on the margins: disadvantaged youth in rural parts of developing countries who have difficulties accessing higher education, and student-athletes at American universities whose year-round commitment to sports prohibits them from having the same civic engagement opportunities as other college students. Parker Goyer, a 2007 graduate of Duke University and a member of the Blue Devils women's tennis team designed the program in 2007.
Wagner first learned about Coaches for College two years ago as a freshman on trip to Arizona State from her roommate, class of 2013 outfielder Paige Williams.
“When I roomed with Paige at Arizona State is when I first learned about it, I was like I want to do this, I want to make an impact” said Wagner. “I love to travel and with softball it's hard to study abroad. This was the perfect opportunity because it's just a little bit of the summer and I can still come back and work camps here.”
After broaching the subject with her parents, the family raised the $1,600 that would fund the trip.
After 23 hours spent on three airplanes, Wagner was in Ho Chi Minh City, nearly 8,900 miles away from her home in Pittsburgh and 9,200 miles from Chapel Hill.
She was joined by seven other Division I athletes from the University of Virginia, Boston College, Florida State, Minnesota, Wake Forest and South Carolina. They would wake up between 5:30 and 6 a.m. most days to complete a training circuit in before taking a bus to the school. The athletes worked alongside Vietnamese university students who would translate the athletes' message to the class.
Each night they would prepare their lesson plan for the next day of class. The students took classes in math, English, physics and health and were coached on how to play basketball, baseball, volleyball and soccer.
One of the biggest shocks to Wagner was that most of the children did not put much stock into their futures. “I asked my seventh graders who in the class had a goal, and only two out of the 18 or 20 students raised their hands” Wagner recalled. This led to the new teacher taking a day to write on the board a list different careers that are possible for the children to pursue. “But to get there you have to stay in school” she told her students. “By the end of it every single one of them had some sort of a goal and that felt really good.”
When she returned to the United States shortly before the Fourth of July, the Tar Heel was bringing a new perspective back with her.
“I knew going into it that I was going to be more appreciative, but now I'm just very appreciative for the little things that I have. Also, it helped me with patience because we are always so quick with everything.”
