East Coast Conference Commissioner, Dr. Robert Dranoff, and Associate Commissioner, Melissa Reilly, were recently named to the host committee of the One Love Foundation's College Athletics Challenge.
The One Love College Athletics Challenge is a year-long plan designed to encourage every National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, II and III school to host at least one One Love workshop by June 1, 2020, in an effort to provide relationship health education to athletes across the country.
To date, the One Love Foundation has educated over 650,000 people about the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships. The organization was founded in 2014, after the tragic death of Yeardley Love, a University of Virginia senior and Division I lacrosse player, who was killed in 2010 by her ex-boyfriend.
"To have the support of so many outstanding athletic directors, student-athletes, alumni and colleges is critical to reaching our goal of putting an end to relationship abuse. We are grateful for their leadership and look forward to working with UVA, the NCAA Student-Athlete Engagement Committee and the entire host committee to meet the challenge of bringing One Love’s critical resources to every athletic department in the United States," said Lela Agnew, Managing Director, Partnerships and Policy of the One Love Foundation.
"The East Coast Conference is honored to be asked to be part of the first One Love Foundation College Athletics Challenge Host Committee," said Dranoff. "This past year, we were able to bring presenters to speak at our SWA Professional Series program as well as our Spring ECC SAAC event. The message from One Love about the importance of providing relationship health education to student-athletes and all those involved in college athletics really resonates with us and we look forward to expanding our programming over the coming years."
Joining Dranoff and Reilly on the College Athletics Challenge Host Committee is a group of college athletic leaders and professional athletes committed to supporting One Love’s work to raise awareness for this critical issue. The co-chairs of the College Athletics Challenge Host Committee include Sharon Love, Yeardley’s mother and Sharon Robinson, Yeardley’s cousin, both are co-founders of the One Love Foundation, Ted White, Deputy Athletics Director, Julie Myers, Head Women’s Lacrosse, and Lars Tiffany, Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach at the University of Virginia.
The members of the College Athletics Challenge Host Committee are listed below:
NCAA:
NCAA Student-Athlete Engagement Committee
Athletic Conferences:
East Coast Conference, Bob Dranoff, Melissa Reilly
Horizon League, Chris Neuman, Kyle Fairchild
State University of New York Athletic Conference, Tom Di Camillo
College/Universities:
College of San Mateo, Andreas Wolf
Duke University, Leslie Barnes
Florida Atlantic University, Nicole Alderson
Jacksonville University, Angela DeMarino
Marist College, Alyssa Gates
Monmouth University, Meghan Casey
Ohio State University, Janine Oman
Syracuse University, Tommy Powell
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Ramone Cooper, Caitlin Callaghan
University of Delaware, Jennifer Judy
University of Florida, Jeff Guin
University of North Carolina, Cricket Lane
University of Utah, Nona Richardson
University of Virginia, Ted White, Julie Myers, Lars Tiffany
University of Wisconsin – River Falls, Kellen Wells-Mangold
Yale University, Victoria Chun
Professional Athletes:
UVA Alum: Leah Smith, USA Swimming Olympian
UVA Alum: Anthony Harris, Minnesota Vikings
At the end of the One Love College Athletics Challenge, the One Love Foundation will hold its first ever One Love 2020 Sports Summit hosted by the University of Virginia in June of 2020. This one-day summit will bring together student-athlete leaders and administrative supporters to honor Yeardley’s life and collaborate about the future of relationship health education in athletics.
ABOUT ONE LOVE
One Love was founded in honor of Yeardley Love, a 22-year-old college student who was killed by her ex-boyfriend. After her death, the family started the One Love Foundation to educate young people about the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships. For more information, visit joinonelove.org
Portions of the release provided by the One Love Foundation.