Student-athletes were recognized for their accomplishments on Monday in the second-ever San Francisco State University Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly awards by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
SAAC held the event in Annex I and served food and desserts with most of the teams in attendance to support one another.
At 6 p.m., the red carpet pictures started and athletes began to sit with their teams.
Teams were seen chatting and eating food while waiting for the event to start, with music playing on the speakers.
“It’s nice because we got some recognition from all the teams and hopefully, we can spread this to just having everybody here,” said Gary Valle, a senior cross country runner.
President of SAAC and junior volleyball player, Kimberly DeBoer, was happy with the outcome of the event and made sure everything was meaningful to the student athletes.
“We really made it so that each award was meaningful and that the athletes that were all nominated were people who the teams and athletic community felt best embodied that award,” DeBoer said.
A huge goal has been to build a community with the athletic teams, and events like this have been successful in bringing everybody together.
“I think it’s just connecting with our community and showing that we do care about each other, so we have the ability to really show that we’re putting in the work doing what we’re doing and we do respect the work that other people put in their craft,” DeBoer said. “Honoring that has been a huge part of it throughout the year.”
Many different types of awards were presented to the people who athletes voted on to take the award home. Awards such as “Photo of the Year,” “Dynamic Duo of the Year,” “SAAC Gator of the Year,” and “Biggest Cheerleader” were among the many awards voted on.
Aidan Murtagh, SAAC secretary and track and field runner, and Nicholas Cook, sophomore baseball player and SAAC team representative, led the way throughout the event and introduced all the athletes presenting the award. During the event, Murtagh and Cook kept the audience engaged with constant jokes before introducing each of the award presenters.
The comradery was on full display throughout the entire event with many loud cheers for teammates and nominees of the different awards presented. Not only was the event made to honor the student-athletes but also to have a bonding experience with all the teams present.
“There’s some athletes that I have never seen in my life, and everyone seems really cool, I feel like we as athletes we think that it’s just our team, that’s it, but when we come together and we put great events like this, I think that’s what makes us a better school,” freshman track and field athlete Yuridia Corona said.
DeBoer mentioned that this was a full group effort, not only from the SAAC leadership executive board but also from the two representatives of each team.
“Keeping the involvement from the athletes was huge, and getting every team involved in the planning was one of the things that made it successful so that everyone felt like they were a part of it,” DeBoer said.
From the centerpieces on the table to the decorations and the voting from all the athletes, the joint effort was appreciated by many athletes. Senior track and field athlete Noah Seto explained how happy he was for this event to come together.
“The most important thing for me is getting to have these moments where all the teams can come together and kind of have a good time and create memories together,” Seto said. “I definitely would not be doing this if I did not know or like the guys that are on the team so that is a big part of the whole thing.”
DeBoer stated that there were many improvements from last year and that it was a very successful event with many cheers and laughs.
“My favorite part of the night was seeing all of the sports teams cheering for each other and really just showing their representation and how much they are about each other,” DeBoer said. “The coolest part was when other athletes would win awards, other teams would get stoked for them.”
