INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Samford junior Ally Cordes was selected as the Southern Conference's representative at the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) conference earlier this month.
 
The conference took place July 8-10 in Indianapolis. Cordes talked about the process she went through to get the opportunity to participate in the conference.
 
"I found out about three weeks before the conference that I was going to go," Cordes said. "Michelle Durban nominated me to go and fill the seat the of the SoCon SAAC president and vice president, who both graduated. I had a small interview about who I was and what I wanted to do with SAAC and they called me back the next day and said they wanted me to go."
 
The mission of the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is to enhance the total student-athlete experience by protecting student-athlete well-being, fostering a positive student-athlete image and inclusive student-athlete environment, and promoting student-athlete engagement at the national, conference and local levels.
 
At the conference earlier this month, a representative from each NCAA Division I conference attended, bringing their own perspective on issues that student-athletes face. Cordes said she enjoyed hearing from the other student-athletes in attendance.
 
"The experience was really great," Cordes said. "I really enjoy everything related to the NCAA and student-athletes, I really enjoy hearing about all of that. That's literally what we did, just sit and discuss hot topic issues and ideas that are being brought to the NCAA. We just sat and discussed that with one person from each conference, so there were about 35 of us in one room, talking about the student-athlete experience, so it was really great to hear multiple perspectives.
 
"I think the biggest thing I took out of it was the different perspectives and experiences," Cordes said. "I met people from Washington, from Baltimore, from north Michigan and me coming from a small school in Alabama, everybody was from somewhere different in the country and it was really interesting hearing how different conferences operated and how not everybody has the same set up or the same perspective on being a student-athlete or how things effect certain people."
 
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