Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: 'Tis The Season For Athletes And Angels
December 16, 2009 | General, B.G. Brooks
Let's back up; it wasn't so much the dilemma she loved as the reason behind it.
Like a number of other Colorado athletes this holiday season and in those past, Hartman was participating in the annual Holiday Angel Tree program.
She had removed the names of two boys, ages 1 1/2 and 5, from the Christmas tree that stood in the Dal Ward Athletics Center lobby for about a month and pledged to buy each a gift.
It was an easy decision for Hartman, a junior alpine skier from Breckenridge. Her parents, Dave and Liz, taught Katie and her three younger siblings that the true, immeasurable joy in Christmas is in giving, and that receiving is a secondary source of happiness.
And as for giving to someone who otherwise wouldn't receive anything, well, that's the holiday bonus that corporate America can't duplicate.
"It's just good to give back, especially to kids who have nothing - and I mean the essentials like clothes," Hartman said. "There are people who don't have the opportunities that we do . . . you love to help the kids that aren't in the situation we athletes are."
Added senior Nikki Marshall, maybe CU's most celebrated soccer player ever: "This kind of called out to me. It's just a great cause. If you can make someone's Christmas better, why not? "
The Holiday Angel Tree project benefits the Genesis Program of Boulder, which provides support and education to teenage parents. Each Christmas season, CU student-athletes, coaches and administrative staffers take "ornaments" - names of children - from the Angel Tree, buy each a gift from the child's wish list, then place the gift under the tree.
(An aside: Among CU sports, Marshall said the volleyball team traditionally has turned out the most individual Angel Tree givers.)
Gifts were to be wrapped and returned by Dec. 11. If wrapping wasn't possible, members of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) stepped up and did the scissor, paper, tape and ribbon work.
"I was on the wrapping crew," noted Marshall, a three-year participant in the Angel Tree project. "What was really cool was some people brought presents for kids and their moms - diapers, clothes, whatever. Very cool."
Monetary gifts also were accepted by Jo Marchi, compliance monitoring coordinator, or program assistant Candy Parkhurst in Athletic Director Mike Bohn's office. Marchi and her SAAC group spearhead the effort.
On Monday, the gifts - "three cars full," according to senior football players Justin Drescher and Matt DiLallo - were delivered to Genesis.
"It was unbelievable . . . definitely the most gifts ever from the holiday tree," said DiLallo, a 21/2-year SAAC member. "It's a great feeling . . . not like anything else you can have."
"Definitely awesome to see, they were so happy," added Drescher. "We don't get to see their (kids') faces on Christmas day, but I'd love to."
A long-snapper with designs on an NFL tryout next spring or summer, Drescher also is a three-year Angel Tree participant. His involvement stemmed from "just wanting to help out others that aren't as fortunate as I am, or the other student-athletes we have here.
"I was very fortunate to be able to play football on Saturdays and get an education here . . . some of these kids might never get that opportunity.
"My family always told me I was very blessed, and told me to give to someone who needs more than I do."
That concept made a lasting impression on at least one of Hartman's Swedish skiing teammates: "She got two little girls' names (from the Angel Tree) and went out and got them a couple of Barbies. She thought it was the coolest thing, but she also realized it's something that needs to be done."
Hartman, Marshall, Drescher, DiLallo and the many selfless others have reached the same conclusion. It is the "do something" spirit that underscores - and in some instances restores - the holiday season for gifters and giftees alike.
Said Hartman: "I think in many ways because we have so much, we're spoiled here at CU."
Spoiled? Maybe just a little in some respects.
But rotten? Not even close.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
