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Tuesday, Nov. 26
The Indiana Daily Student

sports

Team gives back to community

Part of being a Big Ten athlete is being a star to younger generations. Many students can remember the athletes they looked up to when they were younger and chased down for autographs around Assembly Hall. Local women's basketball fans are given the chance to interact with the IU team tonight at College Mall.\nSenior Jill Hartman said they haven't done anything like this at the mall before, but she looks forward to the interaction with the kids. As an elementary education major, Hartman loves spending time with children.\n"I have to deal with learning about kids everyday," Hartman said. "I know that it's the little things we do that make a huge difference to them."\nThe evening will last from 7 to 8 p.m. and is scheduled to include activities like "Double Pop a Shot" where kids will compete to win prizes. A Playstation 2 unit will be set up for kids to play college basketball and if needed some members of the women's team will play too. Some of the prizes for the competitions will be tickets to this weekend's tournament in Assembly Hall.\nThe Hoosiers will also have a meet and greet time where they will sign autographs and hand out posters and schedules. Senior Jamie Gathing never thought someone would be asking for her autograph.\n"I used to tell my teachers in grade school to watch me on TV when I get older," Gathing said. "I never thought about signing autographs though. It's a pretty cool feeling."\nSenior Khisha Asubuhi said she was just recently talking with her mother about how she used to be the one going up to Big Ten players and getting autographs. Asubuhi thinks it's an honor to have kids approach her for an autograph.\nThe women on the team said they don't mind signing autographs and love being with the kids. Hartman said she always has fun with the kids and hopes that the time spent with them will help draw people to their games.\n"I think when they come and meet us they become friends with us," Hartman said. "Then the kids want to come and see us play. When you're a kid and you see someone you know playing, you feel kind of special watching them."\nHartman believes that more than anything, the women on the team give the kids something to reach for. Meeting the team helps give inspiring players motivation to do what they want to with their lives.\nThe women's team has worked with kids before at various basketball camps and clinics, and traveled around to various elementary schools as well. Asubuhi said the team does things for the kids all the time, and they love the kids just as much as the kids love them. While they are role models to young kids with dreams of being basketball stars, off the court is where Asubuhi feels the greatest pressure is to be a good role model.\n"If someone is scoring 20 points a game but you see them in the IDS or another newspaper for causing trouble off the court, kids aren't going to like that," Asubuhi said. "Parent's won't like it either. We have to set a good example off the court as well as on the court."\nGathing remembers growing up in a time when there weren't a lot of opportunities to continue playing basketball after high school. She said programs like the Big Ten and the WNBA give young girls something to look forward to.\n"For most of the local kids we are all they see," Gathing said. "We're their outlook into the future. So many of them want to grow up like us and play big time basketball."\nTeam members said they are excited about their first team appearance at College Mall and hope to gain some new fans through the kids.\n"It's really fun," Hartman said. "They're real cute and it's such a great thing to them"

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