Florida Gators Giving Back to Community
“I can hold my breath for three minutes,” one young girl told Florida swimmer Lainy Kruger.
Not much later, the two locked into a quiet competition to see who could last longer. According to the timer on Kruger’s phone, the young challenger lasted an impressive one minute and 10 seconds, drawing laughs and smiles from the families and athletes nearby.
Lego blocks, beanbags and picture books were the scene inside the Tower Road Branch Library on a Tuesday afternoon. This was part of the Gators Experience semester program, with student-athletes stepping away from their training schedules to read stories, build Lego towers and sit with local children.
In professional sports, the benefit of pro teams goes beyond the revenue and excitement they bring. They build community and strengthen the bond between the team and its fans. Without a pro team in town, the Florida Gators are the soul of sports fandom in North Central Florida.
With the help of the Gators Experience program run by the University Athletic Association, student-athletes go out into the community, sharing experiences with fans and young Gators throughout the city.
For families in Gainesville, the weekly gatherings offer a different experience than what the community usually gets at games. Players who are usually on the field switch to local libraries, schools and even a hospital setting.
“We’re huge Gators fans, of course,” said Sarah Thompson, a homeschooling mother who drove from Melrose with her daughter. “Putting eyes on the actual athletes and getting to talk to them was something really fun. My daughter really enjoys swimming, so it was a nice match for her. It’s really meaningful.”
On the regular-week schedule, the athletes run from early morning workouts to classes and film sessions. This setting gives them a special mental reset.
“It takes you back to where you kind of come from,” Kruger said. “I know back home, there are so many people that supported me, and I think it’s important to pour back into those people who helped you become who you are today.”
As Kruger chatted with the young girl, she wondered if the challenger might follow in her footsteps in the pool.
“Seeing her just light up talking to me, and hearing I’m a UF athlete I think inspires them,” Kruger said. “It’s really cool to see them feel that inspiration. I think it makes their day, I think it makes her day and I just like making people’s day.”
The grounding effect was in the library on that Tuesday and was shared by Jaden Bastian, an outfielder for Florida baseball, and his teammates, whose program took over community duties this week.
“It’s important. It keeps you grounded,” Bastian said. “You remember when you were their age and how cool it is to see people who play sports, it’s like a good getaway in a sense, they’re not worried about how good you played; they’re just happy to see you.”
Remembering his own childhood attending a camp led by former Major League outfielder Rajai Davis, Bastian noted how impactful a brief meeting with an athlete could be.
“I just remember shaking his hand, seeing him play in the World Series and being in awe,” he said. “Whatever your dreams are, don’t let anyone tell you they’re impossible, because I remember being their age and always wanted to be in the MLB and now that dream is right in front of me.”
Behind the scenes of the heartwarming moments between the athletes and the kids of Gainesville, the effort is led by the Gators Experience program, highlighted by Pierre Banks and his team making these opportunities happen. As the UAA’s assistant director of community development, the passion for student-athlete mentorship comes from his own life experience.
A Durham, North Carolina native, Banks played college football at Appalachian State before shifting to academic advising and student-athlete development at Ohio State and South Carolina. Banks spent time balancing sports media, color commentary and student-athlete development, but his path led him to service.
“It’s a blessing. I get paid to fare the Lord and I get an opportunity to meet some incredible people on a daily basis,” Banks said.
The mindset Banks brings shapes how the program approaches the Gainesville community. While the kids are the front point of the vision with the school and library visits, Banks emphasizes that adults are also part of the vision.
“We all could use a hand, and so to be able to give back and help the folks we live and work with and surround them with the love the same way they surround us with love on game day, you can’t put a price tag on that.”
Banks has been in this role for five years, watching dozens of future household-name athletes come through his office. In these volunteer settings, off from the spotlights and the crowds, is where the raw personalities of the athletes come alive.
Gators Experience’s weekly schedule works on a structured, three-day cycle designed to meet the Gainesville residents in their every-day environments, but also to offer the athletes opportunities to connect.
On Tuesdays, it’s a dedicated day of reading with children through “Story Time with the Gators” and “Gators Read”; athletes go weekly to Alachua County Public Library branches like Tower Road and local elementary classrooms such as Williams Elementary. Sitting with the preschoolers and first graders, the players read aloud to the kids before handing each child a personal copy of the book.
Going into Wednesday, the Gators shift to a more sensitive but heartwarming setting, visiting the pediatric units at UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital. The athletes sit with the children going through rough medical treatments or recovering from injuries, playing board games and video games to offer a brief mental escape.
The setting at the hospital could be emotionally heavy. Banks, his staff and his prior coach teach the athletes on how to handle the situation. They have a simple goal: to bring an hour of genuine normalcy for the kids and families going through a rough time.
“It’s just an opportunity to let the kids get their minds off it and just put a smile on their faces for the hour we’re there,” Banks said.
When Thursday arrives, the event shifts back to the schoolyard with “Lunch Buddies,” an initiative in which athletes join in the elementary school cafeterias, chatting with the kids about schoolwork and every-day life.
“They just think it’s cool to have these large humans from the Gators, the team they like, interacting with them and reading with them,” Banks said.
With not having a professional sports team in town, in a city such as Gainesville, the Florida Gators players are often treated like local celebrities. But when you see these young student-athletes going out to the community, just sitting with young fans, that barrier gets stripped away.
“I see them in this setting, in our academic building and in community service so much, I kind of forget that they’re elite athletes,” Banks said. “They’re elite at what they do, but they’re just good people.”
Sometimes this means watching a future tennis star unleash their competitive nature in an unorthodox setting from the usual. Banks remembers watching tennis champion Ben Shelton long before his U.S. Open run in the program.
“I just remember him going out to play dodgeball with the Boy Scouts one time,” Banks laughed. “This man was diving all over the ground trying to win. You just see them in a different lens.”
Other times the commitment happens unplanned and is led by the athletes themselves. Florida softball pitcher Keagan Rothrock ordered backpacks and school supplies off Amazon; she packed them and delivered them personally to Lake Forest Elementary, bringing the front desk staff to tears.
“My brother taught me a long time ago that nobody got to where they are by pulling up their own bootstraps,” Banks said.
The impact of community service can change lives, and in a city where UF is the front line of sports fandom, the work the Gators do in the community brings tears, joy and impact for many young children.
Category: Gator Sports, Gators Baseball, Gators Swimming and Diving, University of Florida
