Ryder Sasser: Athletics and Campus Recreation Direction candidate interview
How will you go about maintaining the traditions the HURD has previously established?
The HURD, I feel like is a delicacy, it is. We’ve established so many traditions over the years, we’re well-known and we have created an atmosphere that’s unlike anything in the country. And so just to keep those established and to not lose those, I want to make sure that we are living up to what we’ve done in the past and recognizing the importance of them. As well as making sure that we, I think the most important thing is to make sure that we are always trying to respect them and above years past respect, what they did and how they created them and where they came from. And as well, like maybe add to them and build upon them and making sure that we’re just being a part of them forever. Make sure that we don’t lose them.”
Student attendance at sporting events is good compared to other universities in the conference and state but could be better. What will you do to improve student attendance at events such as Football, WBB, MBB and WVB?
First step is going to be get the word out as soon as possible. I’m the social media director of the HURD this year, and the number one thing people have complained about or want to know is when is it happening. And if they could know sooner, I feel like people could plan for it. So get the word out as soon as possible. Our second option, I believe, is to work with on-campus organizations more, and make sure people know that the best way to get involved more, the best way to meet new friends and, you know, have that Aggie experience is at games. And so working with organizations to not only talk about their things but also talk about ways they can support their fellow Aggies. So it’s like a senator meeting, ‘Hey, there’s a game tonight. We want people to know.’ And then lastly, working with online social media, with the direct sports involved. Making sure that they’re sending us information, and we’re pushing that information out alongside them, and making it more detailed. And making sure that those social media pages, which is, for example, volleyball, athletics and us all pushing an event. That we’re doing it synchronized and we are making the information flow to the public.
How can athletics market better to students so they know when events are happening?
I think athletics does a good job. They’re really quick, and they’re posting really fast and everything’s coming out fast. I think if they would be willing to share those things with other sports, as well as organizations. Because I know a lot of students who follow, for example, one of my friends, he’s an outdoor product design major and that’s the only Instagram account on-campus that he follows. And so if you could have more of these organizations kind of share those posts or having athletics reach out to other places and be like, ‘Hey, we’re going to share this will you share it too?’ And getting the word out that way. And then I think there’s also some students who don’t have social media. So it goes back to that word of mouth through organizations. And having athletics reach out and be like, ‘Hey, this is what we have going on. And we’d like students to attend and this is what they can get from it’ whether it’s a t-shirt or food.
How can you best be a mediator between campus recreation and the students?
“I feel it’s, personally as well, this is also a lack of information. My freshman year, I wish I would have known about campus rec activities way sooner and I wish I would have been a part of them more. I just didn’t know where to look or that they were happening. I remember some of my friends like, ‘Oh, we’re doing a rec league basketball. We’re doing rec volleyball already.’ And I was like, ‘Well, when can you sign up? When was this?’ And I still feel like to this day, there’s a little bit of a disconnect there. And so I know with the HURD this year as the social media director, they’ve sent me some things and we try to post those and upload those, but we can always do better. And so maybe even creating a specific page on the HURD website being like, ‘Hey, this is a direct link to campus rec.’ And you know, we can do those recreation activities of football, soccer, volleyball, softball in the spring and stuff.
Name your three favorite USU basketball players of all time and three favorite USU football players of all time.
Well, Sam Merrill, just because that was really recent, and I was a little bit a part of that and so that was really fun. You can’t deny that Bean has just been killing it this year. And he’s super fun to watch and everything. I was on the HURD committee my 2017 year. And I remember that one of the committee members, he was always like, ‘They always talk about you know, Estes and they always talk about those guys.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, they’re all great guys. I was trying to learn stuff.’ And he goes, ‘Never forget about Greg Grant.’ And I was like, ‘Okay.’ So, Greg Grant.
Jordan Love. Just once again, I was a freshman and I was a freshman in 2017 and I remember that really well and how far he went with us. I’m going to be doing ones that I know. Justin Rice, love that guy. Super fun to watch. There’s so many of them that I just know. And we’ll end with, this year, I got a picture with Logan Bonner when he got off the bus. We also got a picture there too so he’s a great guy.
-Jacob.Ellis@usu.edu