Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Prepare for Journey to Vietnam
5/19/2015 1:02:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Four Indiana student-athletes will spend three weeks teaching and coaching children in Vietnam
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Athletics have allowed thousands of students to pursue a college education at Indiana University in the last decade alone.
This summer, four Hoosiers are looking to pass that opportunity along to children in rural Vietnam.
Indiana athletes Mollie Getzfread, Courtney Harnish, Derrick Morgan and Kayleigh Steigerwalt will each spend three weeks in Vietnam this summer as representatives of Coach for College.
Coach for College was founded in the fall of 2007 by Parker Goyer, a former women's tennis player at Duke. The program's goal is to use athletics to help motivate children in developing countries to pursue a college education while developing leadership skills, learning in the classroom and playing sports.
"It's just an incredible opportunity," Steigerwalt said. "I never would have imagined going to Vietnam, but this is an opportunity for us to really give back to kids who need it."
The athletes will spend a majority of their time each day teaching and coaching middle-school aged Vietnamese students with limited access to electricity and telephones.
They'll be working alongside other college athletes from different schools and be paired up with translators to help bridge any language barriers. For three weeks, each will be completely immersed in Vietnamese culture.
According to the Coach for College foundation website, most of the families the athletes will be working with rely on farming to make $200-$300 each year. About 94 percent of the youth they'll be working with have parents with a high school education or lower with 65 percent having at least one parent who completed the 9th grade or lower.
Those numbers prompted change. Coach for College is trying to make the change possible.
The four Hoosiers will be tasked with helping make change in Vietnam a reality while increasing the Vietnamese children's psychological well-being, job-related productivity and educational attainment.
"To be able to make a difference in these kids' lives is special," Morgan said. "That's not something that everyone gets to do."
A new-look summer for Getzfread
Mollie Getzfread's parents were surprised when she told them she was going to Vietnam.
Her father was especially shocked when he heard the news. Mostly because Getzfread forgot to tell him she applied for the program in the first place.
"My dad was like, `Wait. What?'" Getzfread said. "I thought I told him I applied. Apparently I didn't."
By now, Getzfread's family is all caught up. The Biology major will be teaching Biology and coaching soccer from May 20-June 15.
The redshirt junior field hockey player is no stranger to spending summers as a teacher. She's spent three summers working with kids at various camps teaching soccer, giving swim lessons and has spent time babysitting.
But Coach for College is far from the typical summer camp Getzfread has been used to. The change of pace is what attracted her to the organization in the first place.
"I thought it would be pretty cool and definitely different," she said. "We're athletes. We love sports. And I've always loved school and loved learning so I think it's cool that we're able to help these kids."
Getzfread said she's been getting increasingly nervous as the days wind down to her arrival date in Vietnam.
It's a good kind of nervous, she said. Having spent her last few summers in Bloomington, Getzfread said she'll be out of her comfort zone while abroad. She said she thinks she'll adapt fairly quickly, especially when she starts spending time with the Vietnamese children.
"I'm really excited to see the kids," Getzfread said. "In the everyday thing of college, we get kind of caught up and take a lot of things for granted. I'm really excited to see how excited the kids get about sports and learning and just how they value everything. It's going to be a really cool trip."
Harnish returning to her family's roots
Courtney Harnish grew up hearing stories about Vietnam.
The senior volleyball player's grandfather was an American soldier. He fell in love with her Vietnamese grandmother while serving overseas in the Vietnam War. The two came back to the United States together with Harnish's mother and aunt to start a family in America.
Harnish begins her journey to the Mekong Delta on Wednesday. She'll hope to return to her family with stories of her own after working with the Vietnamese children from May 20-June 15.
"I've always wanted to travel there," Harnish said. "When I saw this opportunity, I thought it was kind of perfect. I'll get to go there and actually see what it's like first hand."
Harnish said her mother, Thanh, was nearly as excited as she was when she got the news that she was selected for the program. Thanh hasn't returned to her home country since coming over during the war but still wants to one day.
Harnish will be coaching volleyball and teaching math. She helped teach kindergarten students in high school and said she was excited to be working with kids again.
A week before leaving, Harnish was still packing. She had a long list of necessities that she was still running around from store to store to find.
But one of the first things Harnish made a point of packing was a bag of candy.
Harnish explained that one of her mother's fondest memories as a child was the American soldiers passing out candy to all the kids.
Harnish plans to do the same.
"It's easy to sometimes forget just how privileged we are, not just with athletics, but with education," Harnish said. "That's not something we don't think about that they don't have. It will be fun to see how excited they get."
Morgan expects to learn from teaching
Derrick Morgan has studied abroad twice before, but none of his travels were quite like this.
The 2015 graduate from IU's track and field program spent time in London just last summer through SPEA's "Nation Building" program. In the fourth grade, he spent time in Italy.
But Morgan said none of that really compares to the opportunity to work with Vietnamese children in need.
"It's like the total other end of the spectrum from London," Morgan said. "It's more of an opportunity for us to help them. A lot of the kids we will be working with are underprivileged, so I think I'll be able to take away from just being able to work and learn from them."
Even though he's going over to teach Biology and coach soccer, Morgan said he's most excited to learn from the children he'll be teaching.
He said there's a certain sensation that comes with teaching that's hard to put into words. He's eager to learn from the kids he's spending time with.
"When you work with kids it almost seems like they give you more than you can give yourself," Morgan said. "They teach you a lot about yourself. It's even hard to explain. You just see yourself differently."
Two weeks after he returns to the United States, Morgan will begin studies at the Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis. He hopes to one day work in law or possibly become an athletic director.
But all of that can wait. He'll start that up only after his journey to central Vietnam from July 15-Aug 10.
"When I got the news that I was accepted, I was ecstatic," Morgan said. "It's going to be one of those rare opportunities. I'm really excited."
'Life changing' trip excites Steigerwalt
Kayleigh Steigerwalt said she doesn't really know what to expect out of her journey to Vietnam.
She's only been out of the country once--a vacation cruise to the Caribbean her senior year of high school--but something about Coach for College caught her eye.
"When I first started reading about it, it almost seemed unbelievable," Steigerwalt said. "It just sounded really interesting, and I was like, `Oh. I don't really have any plans for the summer yet, so maybe this could work.'"
In a matter of a few weeks, the redshirt junior went from without plans to needing to plan for her trip to the Mekong Delta.
Steigerwalt said she's been getting a crash course in Vietnamese culture and customs from assistant athletic director Wendy Poppy, who's sister in law is from the same area she'll be staying.
Poppy has been giving Steigerwalt tips like to fill up guests' water before her own at meals and what to expect out of the weather.
"It's really convenient," Steigerwalt said. "I honestly didn't know much about Vietnam and I'm still learning every day. She's been a big help with that."
Steigerwalt will be teaching math and coaching soccer while in Vietnam from June 3-June 29. She said the closest she's gotten to teaching is when she pretended to be a teacher when playing school with her sister growing up, but she's eager to work with the kids.
The entire experience will be new to Steigerwalt. She said she's never done anything quite like this and is excited for the challenges and opportunities she'll have each day.
"When I was waiting to hear if I got in, I don't think I've ever been so anxious for anything," Steigerwalt said. "I don't really know what to expect. I just know it's going to be life changing."
