Georgia College athletics hosts special visitor

Published 10:15 am Monday, March 27, 2017

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Throughout the course of an academic year, Georgia College hosts several very important visitors.

From distinguished professors visiting the university through its Newell Visiting Scholar program to the different scientists, innovators and artists coming to share their work at GC, the college maintains an impressive list of honored guests.  Although the university regularly attracts luminaries in all manner of different fields, perhaps none are quite like Ami, a 4-year-old with a serious nervous disorder that was the center of attention at the university last Wednesday.

“She was a spunky little kid,” said Gretchen Krumdeick, head coach of Georgia College volleyball and leader of the university’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. “She did the first serve at tennis with Coach [Steve] Barsby and got to be in the lineups and shake all the players’ hands from both teams, hung out at tennis for a little bit and signed some autographs, and then went over to our softball game. She was honored there as well and got to throw out the first pitch and got to high-five all the teams there, and then she signed some more autographs and had some cake … I think she had a good day.”

An energetic girl who enjoys trampolines, swings and riding scooters, Ami and her family were the honored guests of GC athletics for the day as part of a partnership between Georgia College and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the official NCAA Division II non-profit that grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. Thanks to the fundraising efforts of Krumdeick and others at GC, money raised by the SAAC went to grant Ami her wish to meet her idol: Barney the Dinosaur. After sending her to a Florida amusement park to meet the fuzzy character in person earlier this year, the SAAC wanted to meet the girl for whom they had raised more than $8,000. After inviting Ami and her family to the university for a full slate of Bobcat sports games, coaches and athletes alike gave their beneficiary a royal welcome.

“With her, we made sure she felt special on that day. It wasn’t like ‘Oh, we have a game, I have to focus’,” said Angela Moryan, one of three GC valedictorians and an assistant at the university’s sports information department who documented Ami’s daylong visit on video. “Coach Gretchen got her a little tiara, and so she was treated like a princess. We had the athletes for the other sports at tennis and softball, so the baseball team, the volleyball team, the golf team, the soccer team (and I’m probably missing a couple teams) came out even though they weren’t playing. They all stood in line to get her autograph, so she just seemed overjoyed that this was happening and that she was able to do all this stuff.”

In receiving such a warm welcome, Ami was the latest of three Make-A-Wish recipients the university has hosted in as many years. Because the foundation requires its universities to raise $8,500 for each wish granted, the three-year streak is a point of special pride for Krumdeick, who founded the SAAC’s GC chapter four years ago.

“The way it works is that we raise the money and donate it to Make-A-Wish Georgia, and then they pair us up with a family and we’ll plan the event,” said Krumdeick. “Even though coming to a Georgia College sporting event wasn’t on her list of things to do, I definitely think she really enjoyed it. She went home with a tennis racket and a softball, and we got an email from her mom saying that [we’re] her team now, so she’s a part of the Bobcats, which is kind of neat.”

Since Krumdeick founded the program at Georgia College, the university has placed in the top 10 fundraisers annually for Division II schools. On April 20, Bobcat baseball will host a charity home run derby that is expected to put them over the top for yet another Make-A-Wish recipient. In helping to raise money to grant the wishes of seriously ill children, the Bobcats volleyball coach cited her desire to help people like Ami and her family as her reason for keeping on.

“We’re so lucky to be blessed with healthy bodies and good student athletes,” Krumdeick said. “It’s really nice to give a little bit back to families that have had to struggle and just kind of lessen their burden for the day.”