Scoring success with the SAIT Trojans Athletic Foundation
A team player knows that when the game is on the line, and it matters most, it takes a full team effort to get the win. For SAIT’s Trojan athletes, being part of a team goes beyond the other players they take to the ice, pitch or hardwood with — community citizenship is a foundational component of their student-athlete development.
Many student-athletes find it challenging to juggle academics, sports and employment. Yet, they can give back through community outreach, gaining valuable leadership and volunteer experience. That’s where the Trojans Athletic Foundation (TAF) Endowment Fund comes in.
Standing tall in the community
For nearly 30 years, the TAF has been there to support student-athletes. As part of their role at SAIT, all head coaches of Trojan teams are members of the Foundation and provide expert guidance on delivering support to Trojan student-athletes. A crucial component of this support is financial awards to help make athletes’ focus on academics, training and community involvement easier. Recipients of the Trojan Athletic Foundation award are true catalysts who stand tall on three pillars: academic success, athletic excellence and community citizenship.
“The Foundation is there to support student-athletes because we feel that academics and sport go well together,” says TAF President, former Trojan Men’s volleyball player and head coach Blake Chalmers (Aircraft Structural Repair ’99). “A lot of athletes have to work on top of their programs, so we want to bridge that financial gap and take some of that burden off of them.”
Focused impact
Since the TAF began supporting student awards, more than 900 student-athletes have received nearly $1M in awards. Athletes like women’s basketball player Celine Quigley know the impact an award such as the TAF’s can have on success.
“This scholarship has helped to pay for my living expenses while living in Calgary, away from my hometown in British Columbia, and has allowed me to focus on my academics,” she says.
“My goal is to be a certified personal trainer and to work toward being certified as a physiotherapist. I have very much enjoyed being a SAIT Trojan and part of the SAIT community.”
Winning mindset
For Chalmers, the benefits of both receiving a student award and being a student-athlete go a long way in an individual’s success after graduation.
“I see the benefit every day with what sport does,” he explains. “It makes them more well-rounded. Whether that be on the playing surface or within an office space, once they’re out there after graduation, they make great team players.”
And Chalmers chalks that up to the team-building environment of being a Trojan student-athlete—something he hopes the TAF can continue to build far into the future.
“We want to create a welcoming and supportive environment for these athletes so that when they leave SAIT, they can take that positive and beneficial experience and hold others up.”
Want to help support a positive, team-building environment at SAIT and beyond? Find out how you can get involved with Trojans athletics and other areas of student support.
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SAIT is located on the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of Treaty 7 which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Îyârhe Nakoda of Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney.
We are situated in an area the Blackfoot tribes traditionally called Moh’kinsstis, where the Bow River meets the Elbow River. We now call it the city of Calgary, which is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3.