Friday Focus: The athletics effect

April 4, 2024

— By Marisa Sharrah, associate athletic director for external affairs

I had my son between my freshman and sophomore years of college here at UAF. As a full-time student with a baby-turned-toddler, I spent my free time doing free things. That included many hockey and volleyball games. One of my most treasured memories is of my son, when he was two years old, sitting in my lap in the student section at the Carlson Center and being a little celebrity as he captured the attention of other students sitting around us. At one game, he was paying particular attention to the crowd and watching the students yell, cheer, stomp, and clap, and he was getting really into it. Suddenly, during a quiet moment in our section, he decided it was his turn to shine and belted out TwinkleTwink Little Star as loud as he could, causing a wave of laughter throughout the section. He was so proud.

As my graduation approached, I found myself contemplating my career trajectory and was strongly considering a future with the athletics department. Ultimately, I chose to pursue a career in industry, but the allure of athletics never left me. In June 2023, I eagerly seized the opportunity to join the athletics department and buckled in for the wild ride of my first athletic season and my first academic year on campus in my staff capacity.

My experience, though brief so far, has been nothing short of enriching. Getting acquainted with the student-athletes, coaches, and department team members has been a privilege. I’ve come to admire the dedication, resilience, and vibrant spirit that characterize our athletes. Their commitment to excellence, kindness, appreciation, and humor has left a lasting impression on me and solidified my desire to work in this department for UAF.

I’m a local girl at heart and deeply appreciate this community and UAF. Coming into this position, I knew that working in athletics would provide me with the best of both worlds and the opportunity to bridge campus and community. Alaska Nanooks hold significant importance and value that reverberates throughout many segments of our community. Athletics serves as a unifying force that fosters school spirit and pride among our student population, faculty, staff, alumni, friends, and neighbors. Additionally, through sports, we provide an opportunity for cohesion and a shared space for individuals and families from diverse backgrounds to gather and be in a community together.

In addition to entertainment, athletics offers opportunities to engage with our business community, partner with schools and charitable organizations, and promote health, wellness, and inspiration to the young people in our community. Many of our student-athletes volunteer their limited time serving in a variety of ways and giving back to this community. From reading to elementary school students and competing in partnership with Special Olympics, our athletes who have an incredibly demanding schedule consisting of class, homework, practice, training, games, travel, and department expectations, still find time from unfathomable sources to give back to this community that supports them and their athletic and academic endeavors.

On behalf of the department, I extend our sincere thanks to each of you who have attended a competition, mentored our athletes, supported them academically while they juggle the demands of being a collegiate athlete, bought raffle tickets, supported us on Giving Day or other philanthropic activities, and engaged with us on social media. Please be sure to follow us next season and maybe check out a sport you’ve never attended live before. Our schedules should all be posted on alaskananooks.com by the end of July. Keep your eye out for the Alaska Nanooks Gold Rush event promotions for next season and plan on joining us for the most FUN events in Fairbanks. We hope to see you next season, whether it’s from the court, ice, range, pool, or course!

Save the date!
Next season kicks off at home as our volleyball team hosts the Denali State Bank Ice Block Challenge on Sept. 13 and 14. We’ll also be hosting a Food Truck Rally outside of the Patty Center on Saturday, Sept. 14. We hope to see you there!

Go Nooks!