PURPLE TIME! (Time to Spring into Action)

By Dennis Hinschberger, BA'86. WMAA President

On behalf of the WMAA, I’d like to begin this spring message of hope by congratulating all those Western athletes who have adapted and ultimately overcome the challenges of the past few years. You all deserve our deepest respect and support for thriving through these difficult times.

During the pandemic our athletes have had to isolate, improvise training due to lockdowns, juggle online learning and adhere to COVID-19 safety protocols. All of this on top of staying a top-notch competitor and student. I was thinking that the last time our athletes had to adapt to adversity in this way was during World War II, 80 years ago.

There is no doubt the pandemic has impacted our current purple competitors, but they have coped with focus and determination, and of course – the love of the sport. It is my hope that everyone will come out stronger with new adaptation and resiliency skills.  

We know our partners in Sports and Recreation, under the very strong leadership of Christine Stapleton and her team, are ramping up for more normalized sports and competition. Our purple and proud athletes are re-accelerating their training and commitment to compete and the Board of the WMAA, are here to support!

This spring, Western will initiate an Adopt A Mustang campaign to reinvigorate donor attention for all our Western teams. Since its inception, this program has been very successful at helping to support the bright futures and successes of our past athletes. The past two years of pandemic have impacted its momentum – and that is the sad truth. Fear not, though, purple athletic stakeholders are undeterred and resilient!

The board of the WMAA has unanimously made the decision to grant $100,000 from our Legacy Fund to help boost our Adopt A Mustang spring campaign. The first $50,000 will be spread equally between the men’s and women’s sport teams. I’m also excited to share that the remainder will be used to incentivize our various sports teams through a matching program intended to encourage Adopt A Mustang donors to renew their support, and new donors to join in order to strengthen and re-invigorate this worthy program.

I hope you will consider supporting the program this spring and help boost our athletes as they continue to juggle the cost of their education and the pursuit of athletic excellence. We sincerely can’t wait to match the funds you give! Thank you in advance!!

Time to SPRING into action – its Purple Time!