USI's Women's Basketball Team Make Some New Friends
By: Casie Mason
Updated: January 6, 2013
A visit between the young, and the young at heart, has students and senior citizens coming together in Evansville. The USI women's basketball team took a day off from training to make some new friends in their community.
The University of Southern Indiana has been a neighbor to nearby retirement campus, Solarbron, for years now. Now these two institutions decided to bring the generation gap a little closer. Just down the road from the University of Southern Indiana's campus is a campus of a different kind, the Solarbron retirement campus. Today the campus for the just getting started, and the campus for the retired, are becoming one. "This community here has been part of the community for years. Us being next door neighbors, to have this interaction, it makes sense. It's a smart and it makes sense it was a good day for us," says USI's women's basketball coach Rick Stein. He and his team were invited to pay a visit to the retirement community to help bring these neighbors together while bringing a generation gap together as well. "No matter what you hear, year after year, generation after generation, about the youth, this dispels those things that oh my gosh, this is the generation of youth," says Solarbron CEO Terry Miller. "It seems like these days we get that separation when it come to age groups and we ned to do more things like this. Not even athletics related. It makes sense," says Stein.
Like these students, many retirees aren't able to be with family during the holidays, making this visit even more special for both. "Everybody gets to go home, but it's not as long as everybody else. Normal students get a month," says team members. "There's only a few days they get to go home and see family, so when you have opportunities like this, I think it's good. It does have a home feeling," says Stein. "It's such a great event or our residents because this is all intergenerational. It's a way to stay connected," adds Miller. It is a way to stay connected, and maybe gain a few more fans along the way. "They're already talking about coming out to a game and that's a lot of the fun of it too," says Stein. "It's really great to build our fan base and help out whenever we can because they give so much to us by coming to our games, so we think it's important."
Both Stein and the Lady Eagles say they look forward to continuing to bring these two campuses together with more visits in the future.
The University of Southern Indiana has been a neighbor to nearby retirement campus, Solarbron, for years now. Now these two institutions decided to bring the generation gap a little closer. Just down the road from the University of Southern Indiana's campus is a campus of a different kind, the Solarbron retirement campus. Today the campus for the just getting started, and the campus for the retired, are becoming one. "This community here has been part of the community for years. Us being next door neighbors, to have this interaction, it makes sense. It's a smart and it makes sense it was a good day for us," says USI's women's basketball coach Rick Stein. He and his team were invited to pay a visit to the retirement community to help bring these neighbors together while bringing a generation gap together as well. "No matter what you hear, year after year, generation after generation, about the youth, this dispels those things that oh my gosh, this is the generation of youth," says Solarbron CEO Terry Miller. "It seems like these days we get that separation when it come to age groups and we ned to do more things like this. Not even athletics related. It makes sense," says Stein.
Like these students, many retirees aren't able to be with family during the holidays, making this visit even more special for both. "Everybody gets to go home, but it's not as long as everybody else. Normal students get a month," says team members. "There's only a few days they get to go home and see family, so when you have opportunities like this, I think it's good. It does have a home feeling," says Stein. "It's such a great event or our residents because this is all intergenerational. It's a way to stay connected," adds Miller. It is a way to stay connected, and maybe gain a few more fans along the way. "They're already talking about coming out to a game and that's a lot of the fun of it too," says Stein. "It's really great to build our fan base and help out whenever we can because they give so much to us by coming to our games, so we think it's important."
Both Stein and the Lady Eagles say they look forward to continuing to bring these two campuses together with more visits in the future.
