Missouri athletes dive into home constructions

Sports

Related Photos

Kim Lambert (left), associate athletics director for student-athlete development at the University of Missouri, and Tiger gymnast Katelyn Trevino work on a Habitat for Humanity house on Friday.

Discussion

June 23, 2012

Missouri athletes dive into home constructions

By Richard Polen Globe Sports Writer The Joplin Globe Sat Jun 23, 2012, 12:18 AM CDT

None of them had worked in construction before Friday, when members of the University of Missouri diving team finished the framework of a new house as part of the Governor’s Joplin Challenge.

“I’ve always wanted to but never got the opportunity,” said Sharon Finn, a senior from San Antonio, Texas. “l’ve never hammered a nail before.

“We were really motivated because we were only going to be here for one day,” she said. “We wanted to work our hardest. It’s fun to see it go from something flat to actually being somebody’s home.”

Missouri’s divers worked alongside volunteers from Habitat for Humanity on a new house at 2501 Virginia Ave. Richard Cole, owner of R&S Midwest Construction, has a contract with Habitat for Humanity to build 15 houses.

“These are all Governor’s Challenge houses,” he said.

Lauren Callin, a sophomore from Madison, Wis., credited part of the divers’ success to other members of the construction crew.

“The professional guys really trusted us,” she said.

And although she competes for Missouri, she’s still a Green Bay Packers fan.

“Oh, yeah, I have two shirts. I even have earrings,” she said. “I don’t wear them very often because people would make fun of me.”

Alexandra Skinner, a junior from San Antonio, Texas, was another diver who just finished her first job as a homebuilder. “It’s fun meeting so many new people,” she said. “Our construction guys were really nice. They didn’t get mad if we didn’t know what was going on.”

Mizzou’s efforts to rebuild Joplin are coordinated through associate athletic director Kim Lambert, who was part of a crew at 2610 Pennsylvania Ave.

“I help all the athletes with career development, social responsibility and community involvement,” she said. “We had a trip on June 8. This is our first trip to build.

“This is definitely the most hands-on building I’ve ever been involved with,” she said. “They just wanted to come. It’s something that’s one of our department’s core values. It doesn’t take any convincing at all. The people are happy to come here.”

Lambert’s co-workers included Jessica Carroll, who will occupy the home along with her soon to be 5-year-old daughter, Rhianna.

Carroll’s apartment near 21st Street and Rhode Island Avenue was destroyed on May 22, 2011, when an EF-5 tornado left a path of destruction a mile wide through a densely populated area of the city.

“As long as it’s not heavy lifting, I can do it,” said Carroll, who was not home when the tornado struck, but was still in the path at a friend’s house nearby.

“It reminds me of last year when everybody came,” she said. “It’s awesome to see people still coming even though it has been over a year. It has been really neat because it hasn’t been the same ones doing all of it. It’s really cool to see that.”

Her efforts were assisted by Rob Drass, Mizzou’s gymnastics coach, who said he has enough homebuilding experience to know how to use power tools.

“Our athletes are excited. They want to help give back to the community,” he said. “It really helps to meet the family who’s going to live in the house. It’s a great opportunity for our athletes to have.”

The gymnastics team helped raise money for tornado survivors in two states during a meet against the University of Alabama in March at Tuscaloosa, Ala., he said.

Drass said the two teams will hold another fund-raiser when they compete again in January at Columbia.

“We would like to recognize some of the families that we helped at that meet,” he said. “The governor challenged the pro sports teams and Mizzou to come down and build houses. The state supports us, so we’re going to do whatever the state needs in support of them.”

Brittani Price, a gymnast from Chicago, said she welcomed the opportunity to help the families who lost their homes.

“It was devastating to see that. My hometown is full of trees and their hometown got swept to emptiness,” she said. “To be here with this group of people is a new experience for me. It’s a rewarding experience.”