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Commodore Notebook: Dec. 12 12/12/2005 Commodore Notebook December 12, 2005 Building ‘Dores Builds Momentum Some of you noticed the feature story in Monday’s Tennessean about an excellent community service project our women’s basketball program is doing with area elementary and middle schools. It is called “Building ‘Dores” and its purpose is to promote fitness and fight childhood obesity, a significant problem. About 90 different physical education programs signed up for the free project, the original brainchild of our hustling marketing and promotions office. Participating schools receive a DVD that includes interviews with Coach Melanie Balcomb and two of her players that emphasizes the importance of being active and physically fit. Each class watches the DVD in school and then sets about to complete a two-week worksheet in which students chart their daily physical activity. The goal is to be active at least 30 minutes per day. Students who successfully complete the worksheet receive a free ticket to either our Georgia or Tennessee women’s basketball game. Later this spring, members of the Vanderbilt team will visit some of the participating schools to thank and encourage the kids for developing good exercise habits. Early reports indicate over 200 students have already returned their completed worksheets. Wedding Bells Erik Bakich, Tim Corbin’s energetic recruiting coordinator who deserved much of the credit for our recent No. 1 recruiting class, married Katherine (Jiffy) Toulomelis December 10 in a beautiful ceremony in Nashville. True to form, the hard-working Bakich chose baseball’s only real down time of the entire year to tie the knot. Student-Athlete Holiday Party Those of us lucky enough to peek in on the annual Student-Athlete Advisory Board’s holiday party for inner city children got a quick fix of the holiday spirit. This year when the Commodore players passed the hat, giving was generous and they raised enough money to get about $70 of gifts for each first grader at Ross Elementary School. The kids sat on Santa’s knee first and told Claus what they wanted to receive, then almost miraculously they were handed gifts purchased by each varsity team that were exactly what they wanted! There is a photo on our web site today showing basketball star Mario Moore helping one youngster open his gift; that expression alone will put you in the proper holiday spirit. Santa, by the way, looked very much like football’s Nigel Seaman.
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