USF Athletics

USF Breaks Community Service Record

July 17, 2017

By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

TAMPA, JULY 17, 2017 – Pursuing a goal of excellence in the classroom, in competition and in the community, USF Athletics reached new heights with a program record of 5,025 community service hours logged by student-athletes and staff during the 2016-17 school year.
 
Ever-increasing community partnerships and improvement projects in the Bay Area helped USF Athletics surpass its previous record total of 3,945.5 community service hours posted during 2015-16. USF Athletics has partnered with more than 30 organizations and projects in the Bay Area over the past year, including Boys & Girls Club of Tampa Bay, Metropolitan Ministries, Paralympic Sport Tampa Bay, Special Olympics, Tampa Parks and Recreation, Feed The Children, G3 Life Applications, Habitat For Humanity, Great American Teach In, Where Love Grows and many more.
 
Most recently, 57 incoming freshman student-athletes participating in USF's summer bridge program completed a community service project with Metropolitan Ministries on July 7. Student-athletes were broken up into groups and handled tasks that included food prep, moving furniture and cleaning at the nonprofit organization's Tampa location. Participating student-athletes represented 14 USF athletic teams, including football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, volleyball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's tennis, track and field, and softball along with men's and women's golf.
 
In May, USF women's tennis, which claimed the 2017 American Athletic Conference title on the court, was recognized for giving back to the Bay Area with the ITA Community Service Award for the Southeast region after totaling 258 hours in the community over the past year. Women's tennis also received the team community award at the Stampede of Champions, USF's annual student-athlete awards show.
 
 About USF Athletics
USF Athletics sponsors 19 varsity men's and women's teams that compete in 11 different sports, 18 competing at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls' athletic program is celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2015, having begun with a men's soccer contest in 1965. Nearly 500 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of Tampa campus. The Bulls have claimed 12 conference titles in four seasons in The American, including four in 2016-17. Ten USF programs reached national post-season competition in the 2016-17 season and nine were ranked in the Top 25 nationally. The Bulls posted a record 86 percent Graduation Success Rate (2016) in the last reporting.