Apr 13, 2017Taking a Stand
When former professional football player Ray Rice was caught on video assaulting his then-fiancée (now wife) in 2014, it sparked a nationwide conversation about domestic violence awareness. Following the incident, several male athletes at Saint Martin’s University expressed their desire to take a stand against domestic violence to Head Athletic Trainer Alice Loebsack, MA, LAT, ATC, CSCS. Inspired by their response, she started a new, all-male student club on campus called Saints Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE).
The goal of SAVE is to educate Saint Martin’s male athletes about preventing abuse and provide them with opportunities to speak out against all forms of violence. “Men are frequently told that they’re the problem,” says Loebsack, who is also the Senior Woman Administrator at Saint Martin’s. “Instead, I want to help them become agents of positive change.”
To attract members, Loebsack reached out to the men’s sports coaches and asked if any of their athletes would like to volunteer. Now, SAVE has 10 representatives. “I told the coaches not to force athletes to participate because I was looking for guys that really wanted to be there and push for positive change by being vocal about nonviolence,” she says.
Men are frequently told that they’re the problem. Instead
