The privilege of wearing the Concordia Bulldog colors comes with responsibility beyond preparing for success on game days. An athlete at Concordia becomes not just a stranger within the Seward community, but an active and contributing member. Bulldog athletes continue to be regulars at local churches, elementary schools, at the Ridgewood Rehab & Care Center and in neighborhoods that surround 800 North Columbia Avenue.
For some of the out-of-staters, community service projects are the first opportunities to begin to understand small town Nebraska. The stories that emerge from these adventures are priceless.
Head football coach Patrick Daberkow helped bring about the Bulldog Buddies program in 2009. He has plenty of tales to tell from the team’s many visits to local elementary classrooms. Says Daberkow, “There have been a lot of funny interactions with the kids. Martin Rodriguez was a safety from Tucson that we had on the roster. It was his first small town Nebraska experience. He had kids ask him if he liked Case IH or John Deere more. It’s pretty funny to hear him talk about it. He also said they pulled up and the kids were all playing at recess and the first thing he saw was a kid sitting on a cat.”
Such silliness is part of the value that comes out of the intentional efforts to immerse Bulldogs as part of the Seward community. At the very least, each of Concordia’s 21 intercollegiate athletic teams have some sort of impact on the town. Sometimes the deed is as simple as painting and cleaning at the Seward Youth Center as the men’s soccer program did on one particular Saturday in April.
On a Saturday shortly after the national tournament, the women’s basketball program fielded questions from people of all ages at the Seward Memorial Library. The wrestling program invited Seward High School wrestling fanatic Grant Fehlhafer to be an honorary coach at a dual meet and has regularly supported him at the Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk in Lincoln, Neb. The softball program volunteers as trash collectors along Highway 34 in support of the Krieser family. Every fall, the entire athletic department partners with Seward Middle School on a wellness day at Plum Creek Park. The list goes on.
What Concordia student-athletes continue to realize is that such service projects reap plentiful rewards. The incredible success of the women’s basketball program has practically elevated members of the team to rock star status within some Seward circles. A sophomore in 2017-18, Riley Sibbel frequently participated in Seward community service projects while representing Concordia women’s basketball.
Says Sibbel, “All the residents were like, ‘We watch you on TV every time you have a game.’ When we went to Ridgewood the second time it was like right before the GPAC tournament and they were so excited to see us. They would tell us, ‘We’re going to be watching you every step of the way. We’ll be following you.’ It was just so heartwarming. It shows how we can make an impact on people from outside the school.”
Sibbel and many of her teammates visited Ridgewood back on Jan. 4 and shot baskets on a makeshift hoop with residents. Concordia players mimicked their own warmup drills while using beach balls in place of basketballs. Members of the team returned to Ridgewood in February to paint nails and play bingo. They also find time to play basketball and other games with youths at St. John’s Middle School and at the St. John’s Child Development Center.
A member of the 2017 GPAC championship women’s soccer team, Lauren Martin effectively balances athletics, school and community service efforts. The NAIA Scholar-Athlete has even tried her hand at coaching Seward youths on the soccer fields. Martin and a few of her teammates went to Ridgewood for an event the rehab and care center labeled as “dessert and dancing.” Women’s soccer players served desserts and socialized with the residents.
Said Martin, “It was basically like a social hour for us. Some of them invited their families. It was great because we got to learn more about them and they’d ask questions like what are you majoring in. People were playing piano and music. We were just talking with them. There was one guy playing piano who wanted to dance at the end. He did force us to dance a little bit. It was better because we were all doing it together. It’s something we could laugh about later on.”
The Bulldog Buddies program has been a smashing success ever since its inception. In most cases, the Concordia football players will read to the students. Daberkow says it’s often up to the teacher in regards to what the activity will entail. Connie Meyer, the wife of longtime Bulldog head football coach Courtney Meyer, sometimes asks the players to bring their helmets and pads for the young students at St. John’s to try on.
These impressionable youngsters are then able to put a face with the players they may see from afar on game days.
“Our staff wanted to find a way to engage the community and we thought this was a good idea to get our players out in front of people they otherwise wouldn’t get to know,” Daberkow said. “It’s exciting for the kids to get to know our players and the players really enjoy building those relationships with the kids and the teachers as well. It’s was a hit when we started it so we’ve kept doing it.”
A lot of smiles and laughs resulted from the “prom night” at Ridgewood that members of the football team attended. The event gave residents a chance to dance with their favorite Bulldog football players, who showed up dressed to the nines. Joked Daberkow, “Apparently when the guys show up they have quite a few ladies that want to dance with them.”
The memories that are made provide mutual benefits. One particular moment stuck out for Martin, who says a man at Ridgewood couldn’t hide his joy in regards to having some new companions. The mere presence of Bulldog student-athletes in such places has proven to light up rooms.
Says Martin, “There was this one special needs elderly person at the event. He couldn’t really speak so he would always point. He was super happy whenever we would come and sit with him. As one person sat down he would point at another person and he would smile even bigger. He was really happy for us to sit there with him.”
Daberkow says his program is essentially on call for community service, both big and small. Sometimes that means something as simple as helping a community member move into a new house. Or it could mean skipping a film session to re-do a house. The entire team descended upon a house on 3rd Street this spring while lending a hand with Habitat for Humanity. Concordia football players helped refurnish the outside of a home that had been abandoned and neglected – and then they crushed 31 pizzas.
What Daberkow wants is for his players to be Christ-like role models for younger generations. Says Daberkow, “Hopefully they’ll see that they have kids watching them. We want them to be good ambassadors in the community. When they have kids waving to them out at the grocery store, they’re running into kids from those classrooms. It’s fun to see those relationships blossom. We’re hoping to get those guys a different experience and get them outside their comfort zone.”
Pizza isn’t always part of the deal, but that’s just fine with Concordia’s service-oriented teams. By way of one small task, appearance or volunteer duty at a time, the Bulldogs are making a big difference. The smiles they see are reward enough. Of course, they love seeing those same smiles in the audience on game days.
Says Sibbel, “It’s not only good for us, it’s good for the other people too because all those residents have a story. A small deed like going out and talking to them for 10 minutes could make their day or bring back a memory for them. A small deed goes a long way. I had never met them before but they would know that I was No. 4. It’s the small things.”