NEWS

WCC to host virtual sports summit speaker series

Illustration for the WCC Sports Summit Speaker Series. Courtesy of WCC Sports

By Debra Destefani
Deputy Editor

A virtual sports summit speaker series hosted by the WCC sports department is planned to take place from Dec. 1 to 4. The guest speakers will talk about sports and other life skills, with topics for both athletes and non-athletes alike.

Matthew Lucas, supervisor of sports at WCC, and members of his department put together the multi-day event. The speakers are Stephanie Dooper, WCC club women’s soccer coach, Chris Fritzsching, director of football education for the Detroit Lions and Edward Grayer, assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Speakers for the WCC Sports Summit series. Courtesy of WCC Sports

Each speaker will discuss their topic for one hour. According to Lucas, the topics focus on skills that anyone can use in their everyday life.

“It’s not just open to students, it’s open to the community. Each speaker is going to be talking about a topic that anyone can relate to,” said Lucas.

The shutdown of on-campus activities by COVID-19 has forced WCC’s instructors and faculty to come up with more creative ways to engage students. Several of WCC departments hosted virtual summits this semester, and this speaker series is one of the ways the sports department is trying to connect with the community.

“It’s not something we’ve done before, but it’s definitely something I could see going forward in person. Something like this wouldn’t have been on my radar,” said Lucas.

In addition to the summit, the sports department has been building their reach into esports this semester.

“We’ve been organically growing, seeing what students like to do and we’ve had help with students with that,” said Lucas. “We’ve added an esports club that students can join and we meet every one or two weeks depending on when students are available. We are getting nice feedback from that.”

Registration is required to attend the summit. Students can view and register for events virtually on Campus Connect.