INDIANAPOLIS – The Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) released the Allstate Insurance Company Good Works Team Wednesday morning as Carson-Newman's Kaitlyn Cupples was tabbed as one of the 33 NCAA Division II, III and NAIA nominees for the honor.
The award was initiated prior to the 2012-13 season and is given to "college women's basketball student-athletes who make outstanding contributions in the areas of volunteerism and civic involvement. These individuals embody the true spirit of "teamwork" and "giving back" through commendable acts of kindness."
The senior was the South Atlantic Conference's Freshman of the Year in 2013-14 to go along with All-Freshman Team honors and the 2014 SAC All-Tournament Team selection. Cupples is closing in 100 games played in her career with 51 starts posting 650 career points and 494 career rebounds. The Clinton, Tenn. native has registered 113 blocks in her career to rank fourth in school history in the category just 15 behind Brooke Johnson for third place on the school's all-time list.
Cupples is the first member of the Lady Eagles to be nominated for the honor and has an exhaustive list of community service and outreach.
One of the biggest parts of her giving back has been her mission trips as Cupples has been to five different places over a six-year period. In 2010, she went to Savannah, Ga. to do a vacation bible for kids at a church for a week.
In 2011 and 2012, Cupples went to Boston and in 2013 she visited New York to be a part of a vacation bible school.
The summer of 2016 saw the forward visit Tok, Alaska and Portland, Ore. Cupples stayed in a mission house with a family going to three different villages of Alabaskan Tribes doing basketball camps with children, rebuilding houses and various repairs for two weeks. During her 10 days in Oregon, she helped get the word out for a new church that was being created in downtown.
Currently, the dietetics and nutrition major is the President of the Student Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a leader of Carson-Newman Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a leader at Arrowhead Church College and Young Adult Ministry, a member of Kappa Omicron Nu, on the SAAC Committee.
The Clinton, Tenn. native spent 20 hours per week at The Life Outreach Center teaching a maternal nutrition to mothers in the organization and helping with staff needs at the Samaritan House of Jefferson City.
At the Love Kitchen of Knoxville from July 2015 to Oct. 2015, Cupples delivered meals to food insecure households each Thursday. On top of that, the forward volunteered with the University of Tennessee's Sports Nurtrionist, Allison Maurer, preparing meals and working with student-athletes during summer training camps.
Each Wednesday during the summer of 2016, she spent three hours every Wednesday at the 2nd Baptist Church of Clinton food pantry.
She spent two months in Branson, Mo. at the Kids Across America Camps for Inner City Urban Youth monitoring and caring for 10-12 middle-aged girls, organizing and leading a variety of small and large group activities such as crafts, nature, songs games, opening and closing ceremonies, swimming, archery and canoeing.
Among her other activities are hosting a week-long basketball camp at her church, delivering meals to homeless people in Clinton each Thanksgiving morning and participating in Operation Christmas Child donating goods to the children of Jefferson County.
At Norris Middle School, Cupples works as a basketball conditioning and skills coach preparing personalized practice plans to train and develop a team.
Athletic departments and sports information directors were responsible for the selection of all of the nominees and a special voting panel headlined by former Duke University basketball athlete, two-time NCAA® champion and seven-time NBA All-Star Grant Hill, and former Notre Dame basketball star, two-time Nancy Lieberman Award winner and current WNBA player Skylar Diggins, will select 10-member teams from both the NABC and WBCA, comprised of five student-athletes from the NCAA Division I level and five student-athletes from Divisions II, III and the NAIA. The final roster of 20 award recipients will be unveiled in early February.
"It is a joy each year to partner with Allstate in recognizing the many college women's and men's basketball players who are performing good works in their respective communities," said WBCA Executive Director Danielle M. Donehew. "This year's WBCA group of 97 nominees is no exception. They are truly the heroes of our sport and deserve our gratitude. Congratulations to them all."
Members of the Allstate NABC Good Works Team® will be invited by Allstate, an official corporate partner of the NCAA, to the 2017 NABC Convention and 2017 NCAA Men's Final Four® in Phoenix, where they will participate in a community service project benefitting the city. Members of the Allstate WBCA Good Works Team® will be recognized during the 2017 WBCA Convention and at the 2017 NCAA Women's Final Four® in Dallas, and will also participate in a volunteer project in the local community. Allstate is an official corporate partner of the NABC, WBCA and NCAA.
- CN -
