Golden Nuggets: Cal student-athletes volunteering to help local children

Wally Haas and the Coaching Corps worked with Cal Athletics on the seventh annual College Sports Day, showing underprivileged children all about the world of college athletics.

College Sports Day is put on by Coaching Corps, whose mission is to recruit and train college athletes and other community members to become volunteer coaches, mentors and role models for girls and boys in under-resourced communities.

For Cal's student-athletes, it appears they got just as much out of College Sports Day as the kids they were supposedly helping, if not more.

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The 17 Cal sports represented spread out across the Haas Pavilion floor and set up drills for the kids to go through. Participants could do blocking drills with Cal linemen, work on their tumbling with the gymnastics teams or score a goal in soccer, among a variety of other things. Approximately 100 kids attended the event.

"At first, we had this one kid who was going through the drills. He was kind of timid and kind of shy," Cal wide receiver Jack Austin said. "But the more and more he went through it and the more he got to know us, it was really cool to see him light up and do a touchdown dance and have fun with it. It was really rewarding for me and all of the other football players who are here just to see the look on that kid's face."

Watch this video if and only if you enjoy super adorbz footage of kids trying new sports.

Our student-athletes also participated in Read Across America, reading to children in local elementary schools, presumably reading stories about fun adventures, colorful picture books, and Oski and the vile Stanfurd Cardinal.

Although there was one kid in that video who likes Stanfurd, so hopefully they didn't read too much to him...

A friendly neighborhood warning: with five Cal sports taking place on campus this Saturday, try to plan ahead to account for traffic and reduced parking

UC Berkeley

• We are the sixth-most reputable university in the world, which is wayyyyy too low

Cal Athletics

• Cal is working with the Apple Conference to promote student-athlete health
• Dat Rubik's cube action
  

Tennis

• The no. 14 men's team and the no. 16 women's team are being recognized for their incredible academic success

Women's Golf

• Hannah Suh recorded a top-ten finish at the Bruin Wave Invitational

Men's Golf

• Brandon Hagy and Joël Stalter are on the first spring Palmer Cup Ranking

Men's Basketball

• Hip hip Jorge!
  

  The #Nets have signed guard Jorge Gutierrez to a 10-day contract. Gutierrez will wear jersey No. 13. pic.twitter.com/5K1IEyJt2n

  — Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) March 6, 2014

• Taking a look at which Pac-12 teams may be playing in the NCAA Tourney, which may include Cal
• The middle of the Pac (pun intended!) is getting pretty cramped and what Cal must do to rise above
• Is Richard Solomon the key to finishing strong? (Written before Utah game, but an interesting statistical comparison.)
• Despite a double-double by Solomon, Cal came up short against the Utes

Women's Basketball

• More All-Conference honors for Brittany Boyd and Reshanda Gray, this time from the media

Women's Swimming and Diving

• The Pac-12's Swimmer of the Week is, of course, Missy Franklin!

Men's Swimming and Diving

• Cal is in second place after Day One of the Pac-12 Championships
  

Track and Field

• Tony Sandoval is the MPSF Coach of the Year after leading the Bears to be the MPSF Team Champions!

Baseball

• Cal (8–3) struggled in a loss to Stanfurd

Softball

• The Bears (8–7) were victorious over Hawaii in Honolulu

Lacrosse

• Marissa O'Meally answers some questions about her career at Cal, leadership, and balancing academics at Berkeley

Rugby

• A squad of freshmen and sophomores (13–0, 4–0 PAC) defeated the Santa Rosa Junior College team

Football

• K Vincenzo D'Amato may be getting some NFL attention, presumably for his ability to throw TDs
  

  #Patriots work out Cal kicker Vincenzo D'Amato: Kicker has also drawn interest from #Giants http://t.co/8NBzxUCHic

  — @PatriotsXtra (@PatriotsXtra) March 6, 2014

• After a few nightmarish months, Cal must recover and focus on improving four issues
• The NCAA Football Rules Committee is officially postponing decision on the "10-second rule;" 73% of FBS coaches were opposed to the rule and 19.5% were in favor (video autoplays)
• ESPN discusses our depth at DE
• Our BFF Ted Miller looks at our LBs
• WR DeSean Jackson may not be with the Eagles for much longer, due in part to his size and since he got robbed...?