The association of student athletes has been busy working on new accommodations and updates for the student-athlete experience. The ASA is made up of one representative from each of the 16 sports teams at Goshen College, working to serve and represent all student-athletes on campus. This leadership team is led by their adviser, Chad Coleman, associate director of athletics. 

This year, ASA was certified as a Student Life organization for the first time. “I’ve really enjoyed helping ASA legitimize themselves and be taken seriously as a student organization for the first time,” Coleman said. “I want to see them thrive. It’s important that ASA remains a thriving organization and it becomes an organization that our athletes actively seek out and want to participate in,” he said.

Recently, many innovations have taken place, including the Maple Leafs Performance Pantry and the Fuel Bar, a project led by Eddy Garcia, a senior business major, the social media coordinator for ASA and a member of the track and field team. 

ASA’s hope for the Fuel Bar is to bring easy access to affordable hydration and nutritional snacks to student-athletes prior to their workouts and practices. Currently, the Fuel Bar’s hours of operation are everyday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Roman Gingerich Recreation Fitness Center, but with more engagement from the GC athletics community, additional hours may be added. 

Garcia shared that this idea originated two years ago in an ASA meeting where he and two GC alumni, Tim Wilkening ’25 and Pedro Scattolon ’25, brought up the idea of having their own version of an NCAA Division 1- style “Fuel Bar” in the RFC. With the help of Coleman and other members of the ASA leadership team, their vision, which has been in the works since the beginning of this school year, launched in February. 

Currently, student-athletes are required to pay a small price for these snacks and beverages. However, Garcia’s hope is that “one day, the Fuel Bar can reach a status in which, similar to Division 1 programs, student-athletes do not have to pay for products and can simply benefit from the venture,” he said. 

To get things off the ground, Coleman asked the leadership team what the low-hanging fruits for athletes were and how the athletic department can help student-athletes to be more successful.

There was a strong consensus to make some upgrades to the RFC weight room. “I had them create me a wish list and used that to catapult some changes and reorganization of the weight room space,” Coleman said. With the help of the ASA Leadership Team, a new vision for the RFC weight room took shape, and most of the stated needs have been addressed over these past few months. 

Another project that took action was the Support Hour with Jesse Loewen, the associate director of academic success, every Friday morning at 10 a.m. “Students can use Jesse [Loewen]’s support hour for mental health check-ins, injury support, academic support or just to drop by. It’s exciting to have another mental health resource for the student-athletes at GC,” said Mackenzie Mast, senior psychology major, president of ASA and a member of the women’s soccer team. 

“Personally, I’ve been excited to see some of our projects we’ve been working on this year finally take off. A lot of behind-the-scenes planning goes into those different projects, so it feels good to see them come together now,” said Mast. 

Along with the current initiatives that launched recently, the ASA team is working hard on numerous other projects to continue their goal in serving student-athletes as best they can. 

Mast added, “[ASA] really appreciates all of the support and feedback we’ve received so far this year, and we’re always happy to talk with anyone more about ways to improve the GC athlete experience. Our goal is to serve our student-athletes, so we love to hear feedback on how we can best do so.”