October 23, 2006
Carson, CA - With an invitation from the Dig 4 Kids Foundation, the 2006 CSUDH women's volleyball team took time out of practice to visit Carson Elementary School to work with 5th graders as part of an after school program, helping with their homework and speaking to them about the value of an education and pursing their dreams.
The Toros then moved up a few grades and talked to the Carson High volleyball team about the balance between sports and school, as well as using sports as a tool to help them reach their goals.
“Working with the kids was an invigorating experience,” begins senior middle blocker Nicole Hoffman. “Hopefully we helped them to realize that academics are a big part of their future, and that without spending time on their studies, sports will not be in their future.”
Dig 4 Kids was founded in the spring of 2000 by professional beach volleyball player and Olympic gold medalist, Eric Fonoimoana. It was established after Eric participated in many volleyball clinics and learned of the large disparity that existed in resources for youth athletic programs in disadvantaged communities. He felt a strong desire to “equalize” these circumstances in these disadvantaged areas.
“It was fun working with the kids,” says junior TaMesha Jefferson. “I wish that I would have had a program like this to provide role models outside of my family that could have helped me with school and sports when I was growing up.”
“Digging Education” is the primary activity of D4K, and is an innovative project that combines afterschool volleyball lessons with academic mentoring and tutoring. Students receive tutoring, mentoring, and life-lesson counseling, and then participate in volleyball instruction and training. The program, which takes place from 3pm to 6pm, responds to a need for positive afterschool activity when many kids are unsupervised and prone to involvement in dangerous or illegal activity.
“The Digs 4 Kids program is doing a phenomenal job with helping to develop children of all ages,” states assistant coach Scott Davenport. “The kids enrolled in the program benefit by getting tutoring services at no cost while having role models who can help mentor them at an early age.
“The volunteers benefit on many different levels including the intrinsic satisfaction of knowing that they could be making a positive impact in many young kids' lives for years to come. Albert Hannemann and Eric are providing an invaluable service to our community and we are very excited about the opportunity to develop a strong relationship with them and are looking forward to having our student-athletes consistently volunteer their assistance to the Digs 4 Kids program and the Carson community.”
For more information about the Digs 4 Kids Foundation, click on their logo at the beginning of this release.
