Just like on game day, N.C . State athletes strive for excellence when they are off the field and in the local community.

According to Assistant Athletic Director of Student-Athlete Development/Community Relations Tonya Washington, the Wolfpack student-athletes participate in community and charitable organizations.

“Several of our teams have participated in Habitat (for Humanity) builds in the past year and continue to do so this year,” Washington said. Other notable activities Washington mentioned include the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the YMCA of the Triangle, the Boys and Girls Club, various schools, youth clubs and the First Tee Program.

A new activity the student-athletes have pursued this year is visiting the Litchford Falls nursing home in Raleigh.

“Student-athletes will be going there every month and do activities with the residents,” Washington said.

Throughout the year and especially this month, the athletic teams have incorporated breast cancer awareness into their events. Washington pointed out volleyball’s “Dig Pink”  on their match against Virginia Oct. 15, women’s soccer’s “Play4Kay”   October 16 th , and the football’s breast cancer awareness game against Central Michigan. Assistant Media Relations Director Mark Kimmel said the women’s basketball team will once again hold their annual “Hoops 4 Hope” game in early 2012.

The Wolfpack will be busy helping out during this holiday season. Washington highlighted sponsoring families during Thanksgiving, Toys for Tots, and a canned food drive. She is optimistic that last year’s record of 3000 lbs. of food can be topped.

During the offseason, the teams are able to spend more time being involved in community and charitable causes.

“[Volunteer work] is ongoing, it just depends on their season,” Washington said. When they are out of season they can participate in more events. It is very important to our coaches and players.”

Naturally being competitive, all State varsity athletic teams compete against each other in the ImPACK competition every year.

“The ImPACK competition was started seven or eight years ago by one of our former volleyball student-athletes as a way to get our student-athletes more involved with things on campus and community,” Washington said. “It is based on different variables such as team GPA, student-athletes supporting one another by going to games, academic awards, athletic achievement and participating in the community.’

Last year’s winner was the gymnastics team. Assistant coach Colleen Johnson, who oversees the team’s community involvement events, spoke about so a few events the team members conducted last year.

“They did Habitat for Humanity,” Johnson said. “They helped out a needy family at Christmas and Thanksgiving, and visited kids at schools.”

In order to stay on top and explore new community opportunities, Johnson discussed what the gymnastics team has done to plan new activities.

“This year we are going to split the team into different groups,” Johnson said. “Each group has to come up with different activities. They are talking about what they want to do and they have some creative ideas.”

Already, the team has shared a heartwarming moment while performing community outreach.

“They went to a children’s hospital and went around and visited the kids’ rooms,” Johnson said. “That was one of the most memorable events.”

Johnson applauds her team members for their community participation while they keep up with their busy lives.

“With all the stuff they have going on, they are able to make time for it and they really enjoy it, Johnson said. “They are good kids and enjoy reaching out.”