ATLANTA- The sixth annual Coach John Wooden Citizenship Cup, an award given for the most outstanding role model among athletes, announced its nominees for the 2010 award ceremony according to Fred Northup, President, Athletes for a Better World. Shannon Frain, a junior middle blocker on The Citadel volleyball team, received Honorable Mention recognition by the committee. The ABW is a non-profit organization committed to changing the culture of American sports, the Wooden Cup is unique in that it is open to athletes in all collegiate and professional sports. Nominations come from every conference in the NCAA.
The Wooden Cup is given to a collegiate and a professional athlete who have made the greatest positive influence in the lives of others. The award recipients will be announced at a ceremony held at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club on Wednesday, January 19. With Peyton Manning, John Smoltz, John Lynch, Andrea Yaeger and Cal Ripken, Jr. as previous recipients, the Wooden Cup is becoming one of the most prestigious awards in all of sports. Recipients are considered role models and athletes of excellence both on and off the field.
Once a month for three years now, Frain has attended WISE (Women In Science and Engineering) meetings that is designed to obtain experience in presenting technical material before a professional audience. These meetings offer one on one experience from speakers that have majored in either mathematics or a science and create awareness to the challenges that will be faced after graduation. She also actively participates in the HESS Majors Club meetings once a month during the school year. HESS (Health Exercise and Sports Science) offers meetings that have professional pharmacists to strength coach's that come and share their experiences and how they got to where they are today. In the HESS department, she assists professors with a study called Bite Tech Research this semester. This study is mainly concerned with the physiologic effects of wearing a mouthpiece.
"Shannon is one of the most supportive players that I've ever coached," says Head Coach Carolyn Geiger. "She is always pushing her teammates through a tough drill with encouragement and a helping hand. Her teammates have nicknamed her "mom" because of her nurturing ways. Off the court she is a contributing member of society and hopes to be a teacher when she graduates."
