On Thursday, Nov. 13, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Wright State University Athletics held a Raider Rally at Southern Ohio Brewing for the first time. This event included coaches from baseball, golf, bowling and many other teams.
Raider Rally
The Raider Rally, an evening with WSU coaches and staff, was put on by Zach Beal, the NIL Program Manager. Beal is in charge of all the name, image and likeness operations for athletes at WSU.
The event was an open and social place for the WSU community to get to know more about the head and assistant coaches of different teams.
Coaches included the baseball head coach Alex Sogard, volleyball head coach Trav Green, men’s soccer head coach Alex Van der Sluijs, both men’s and women’s basketball head coaches Clint Sargent and Kari Hoffman and many more. The Director of Athletics, Joylynn Brown, also attended the event.
Any attendees were given name tags with their printed name, and coaches had their name and position in WSU athletics, so people were able to communicate easily. The event offered posters and booklets on important and informational facts about the teams.
“We invest to make [the WSU] community proud of the teams and student-athletes who compete wearing green and gold. When the Raiders win, [WSU] and anyone attached to this university or community win as well. We all share in the successes of our student-athletes. Which is why we invest," Beal said.
This event gave the community a chance to get to know the people behind WSU athletics and also gave them the opportunity to learn about the importance of the athletic fund and gave them easy access to donate if interested.
The athletic fund can help them with things like training, wellness and many other services.
Donation links for the athletic fund, scholarships and direct teams can be found here.
Alyssa Hatton, assistant coach for women’s bowling, spoke on what she hopes to see in the future for WSU bowling.
“I want it to just be on the map, like it’s becoming so much more well-known now that we’re NCAA, we have so much support from the athletic department. I can’t talk about how much the athletic department has supported us and been there for us and really helped us grow, and I think that having that from them is going to continue to help us grow," Hatton said.
The WSU Athletics team finds the importance of supporting each team and making sure they are getting the best experience possible, not only for the student athletes but also the fans and community in WSU.
The first Raider Rally was informational and encouraging for learning more about each team and how to support them. With this encouragement, WSU will be able to continue growing each year with the help of the community.
