Starting Dec. 20 through Dec. 29, we are reliving the top games, championships, awards, firsts, and memories from the year that was in the Ten For 2010 series. You the fans can vote on your top story of the year starting Dec. 29, and the results will be unveiled on New Year's Day. We present our top 10 in roughly chronological order, not in a ranking of any sort.
Ten For 2010
Dec. 20:
The Hall of Champions
Dec. 21:
Women's Basketball In The NCAA Tournament
Dec. 22: Lax Comes Back
Dec. 23:
Softball's NCAA Run
Dec. 24:
Field Hockey Is #1
Dec. 25:
LVC Cares
Christmastime is often called the season of giving. But for Lebanon Valley College's athletic teams, the giving season never ends. Thousands of hours have been invested and as many dollars raised over the past year as LVC student-athletes made 2010 the biggest year yet for the LVC Cares community service initiative.
Most Dutchmen fans are familiar with the many events throughout the year raising money and awareness for various causes, like the women's basketball team's Pink Game, baseball's Cystic Fibrosis Day, or women's soccer's Pink on the Pitch month, to name just three of many.
Those are the most visible efforts on LVC's part, but few see the selflessness of the student-athletes and coaches who donate their time and talents to things like the Special Olympics, mentoring schoolchildren, and myriad local volunteer activities.
"Anytime we can give back it's a benefit to those kids," said athletic director Rick Beard. "In our area we have one of the only venues that we can host things like the Special Olympics. We're promoting the ideals of Division III athletics and LVC."
Teamwork is at play with community service, as well - 2010 saw unprecedented cooperation among LVC teams, like the track & field team organizing a kid's day at an ice hockey game to benefit the Sunshine Foundation, or the ice hockey team collecting money for cancer research at a football game.
While the teams never lose site of the goal in their charitable activities, it's a fantastic bonus that the Lebanon County community has embraced their efforts. Women's basketball Todd Goclowski has watched his team's Pink Game turn into a must-see event, and the team also works on clinics with local Special Olympians.
"It's gratifying to see relationships develop in our community with our team, on and off campus, he said. "With our special athletes in particular, it's so satisfying and worthwhile."
The Pink Game, in particular - which has drawn huge crowds over the past three years and is sure to be a massive attraction in 2011 with the game coming Feb. 9 against Messiah - has grown from a grassroots effort to raise funds for breast cancer research to being a marquee event on the LVC athletics calendar every year, bringing in thousands of dollars for the American Cancer Society's Lebanon chapter.
"The Pink Game says a lot about the LVC community in general," Goclowski said. "It's become an event and a reflection of how special our community is. It's gotten more exciting, more impactful, more meaningful each year."
