Griffons Wrap Up 'Paint It Gold Blitz'
By: Justin Sampson
Updated: August 25, 2012
That's given student athletes the chance to get back to business as usual and prepare for fall.
But with regular seasons starting up thi week, the Griffons hit the town this weekend to make sure everyone knows it.
"With the Chiefs up here, you can get side tracked for a little while," Volleyball Head Coach Cory Frederick said. "It's nice to let people know we're starting back up here in a couple weeks."
The Griffons didn't get side tracked this weekend.
But they did take some time to do some campaigning with the "Paint It Gold Blitz"
"We're enjoying ourselves. We're getting the word out that we're starting our season already," junior volleyball player Stephanie Hattey. "We hope to get more fans to our games."
"It does two things," Frederick said. "One, it gets the community more aware of us with our upcoming games, and it also gets our players and student athletes out in the community a bit."
The Blitz began on Thursday, as student athletes went to nine local business over a three-day span, wrapping up today at Hy-Vee.
"We've got a lot of kids we're giving posters to, signing autographs, and kind of do stuff for people who aren't as fortunate and never been in the shoes of what we go through," defensive end David Bass said. "We're able to give back to them."
I remember, I used to be that kid, quarterback Travis Partridge said. "Growing up around the program, I used to think the players were awesome, hanging out with them. I just want to do the same for other people."
Fans and families alike got an up-close meet and greet with members of every fall team, and the programs understand that reaching out to fans goes a long way towards getting them back in the seats.
"There's actually a lot of excited fans out here, a lot of kids, and a lot of people who support us," Bass said. "We're in a small town, and a lot of people support us as a football team at Missouri Western.""We need to do as much support outside of our university as the community gives to the university," Frederick said. "We need to give that back to them, so this is a nice time to get out and meet everybody."
With the Spratt Stadium lights just five days from kicking on, there is plenty of buzz to go around.
Even some rivals have taken notice.
"We had one Northwest fan come through so we had to argue with him a little bit. But, it's been a really good eye-opener with everyone else."
"The excitement's building around here and we have high expectations," Partridge said. "It's fun to just get out and hang out with the community."
