The Ithaca College Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is excited to announce its partnership with Untold Athletes as the first collegiate satellite program in the United States. This partnership affords Ithaca College student-athletes the opportunity to tell their stories on multiple platforms as each testimony will be posted on numerous social media channels and athletics.ithaca.edu.
"We are thrilled to partner with the Bomber family as they launch the first Untold Athletes Satellite Program!" said Whitney Johnson, Chief of Business Development at Untold Athletes. "Their values and focus on developing the holistic student-athlete is something we fundamentally align with and wholeheartedly support. Ithaca student-athletes are passionate, dedicated, and deserve to have their voices heard. We're excited to help elevate that collective voice and give the nation a raw, inside-look at what it truly means, feels like, and looks like to be a Division III student-athlete."
Untold Athletes' mission is to celebrate and empower athletes, inspire readers and amplify voices through storytelling.
“At Untold Athletes, our mission is to elevate and empower the student-athlete voice," started David Ball, founder and CEO of Untold Athletes "Championships and world titles are exciting, but there's so much more to the student-athlete experience than that. So many stories go untold. We're here to change that."
Prior to the official partnership, three IC student-athletes were featured on Untold Athletes — Donte Garcia '22, Katelyn Hutchison '22 and Devon Morris '20.
Ithaca Partners with Untold Athletes as First Satellite Program
“Untold Athletes is an important and impactful platform for student-athletes at IC because not only does it provide an opportunity for us to share our story and empower one another, but it allows us the opportunity to advocate for what we believe in and amplify our voices,” stated Garcia, a member of Ithaca's football program.
Ball, a graduate of BYU and a men's tennis student-athletes, developed the concept of Untold Athletes after his senior season at BYU was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and he wanted to create a space for all student-athletes who were dealing with the same experiences to amplify their voices.
“Untold Athletes is an important and impactful platform for student-athletes at IC because not only does it provide an opportunity for us to share our story and empower one another, but it allows us the opportunity to advocate for what we believe in and amplify our voices.”
Donte Garcia '22
“What started out as a way to help student-athletes feel closure for those that lost their seasons to COVID-19 has turned into something wide-reaching and powerful,” expressed Ball. “Untold Athletes is a space dedicated to allowing students to express their experience in a way they haven't been able to do previously. It's not just about their sport; it's about them. What they feel, what they live, and what they want to become because of it. We can't wait to discover the journeys of Bomber student-athletes and learn from them as they express their whys, passions, fears, desires, and personal victories.”
Ball, along with other members of Untold Athletes – Johnson and Jake Kirschner – recently met with members of Ithaca's SAAC to lay the groundwork for this partnership. During that discussion, those IC SAAC members were fully engaged and excited to begin this journey, asking numerous questions and recommending other IC student-athletes who they know would fulfill the mission and vision of Untold Athletes.
Throughout the 2020-21 academic school year, Ithaca College will showcase the amazing stories of the student-athletes on South Hill.