ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The Bard College Department of Athletics & Recreation, in partnership with Bard's Center for Civic Engagement, has announced the launch of an initiative to encourage greater participation and leadership in the area of civic and community engagement among student-athletes.

Launched on Oct. 1, 2019, the Raptors Cup is an annual competition between Bard's 19 varsity programs. The name of the winning team will be engraved on the Raptors Cup each year, and the cup will be kept in the trophy case in the Stevenson Athletic Center.

Click here to get the Raptors Cup form
Click here to read about the COVID-19 updates to the Raptors Cup

The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee participated in establishing the goals of the program, which are meant to build the athletic community, inspire leadership and civic development among student-athletes, and to get everyone actively engaged in volunteer efforts, both on campus and off.

Student-athletes can collect points for their team in six value areas:

• Athletes Supporting Athletes
• Personal Development
• Civic Engagement & Community Service
• Team Development
• Student-Athlete Advisory Committee
• Above and Beyond

Athletes Supporting Athletes

This category was created to promote support between the varsity programs and individual student-athletes. Attending other varsity games, or attending on-campus performances, presentations or speaking engagements by student-athletes, earns a team points.

If half of the team roster attends: 200 points
If 50-70 percent of the team attends: 300 points
If 100 percent of the team attends: 500 points

Personal Development

This category recognizes student-athletes who make the effort to better themselves. Examples include attending job fairs, reading personal development books, making appointments with the Career Development Office or attending a wellness fair.

For each event: 100 points

Civic Engagement & Community Service

Service to the community is an important part of the Bard College experience. Student-athletes have the opportunity to make a big impact. Examples include school visits, volunteering, Special Olympics Day, the Polar Plunge, etc.

Individual participation: 100 points
Team participation: 500 points
Launching/leading an event: 1,000 points

Team Development

Similar to Personal Development, team enhancement requires the whole team to participate in development activity. Examples include attending a talk about sports nutrition, creating an alumni event, having team bonding activities, or taking extra training about sexual harassment/assault prevention. 

If half of the team roster attends: 300 points
If 50-70 percent of the team attends: 500 points
If 100 percent of the team attends: 1,000 points

Student-Athlete Advisory Committee

SAAC is an organization comprised of varsity team representatives.The committee discusses pertinent information regarding the student-athlete experience at Bard, and it provides a forum for participants to voice opinions and concerns. Points will be award each time a team representative attends a SAAC meeting, and also for any involvement with SAAC subcommittees. Points will go to representation per team, not the number of representatives per team.

Attending SAAC or SAAC subcommittee meeting: 100 points
Serving on a subcommittee: 300 points
 

Above and Beyond

This category will be coach/administrator driven, and exists to give credit for deeds that don't fit into the other categories. When a student-athlete goes the extra mile, a coach/administrator will fill out a form to make sure points are added to that team's Raptors Cup total. The amount of points awarded will be determined by the Raptors Cup Coordinator.
 

Social Media

The varsity program creating the most Instagram posts using the #raptorscup hashtag will be awarded an extra 2,000 points.