North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Athletes With Talent? We'll See Monday
10/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
BY TIM PEELER
But who can sing and dance?
Monday night, Wolfpack athletes will show off their entertainment skills in the inaugural Athletes With Talent Charity Show. Organized by the Student Athlete Advisory Council, the benefit is slated for 7 p.m. at
Tickets for the event are $2 and will be available at the door Monday night. All monies raised from the show will go to the
“The whole idea is to raise some money for the school and to help the kids,” said men’s swimmer Stephen Mellor, who will share master of ceremony duties with women's basketball player Khadijah Whittington. “And it’s a really good opportunity to see some athletes outside of their comfort zone.”
Mellor has already displayed his musical talents during his athletic career: He sang the
So far, 13 acts have signed up for the two-hour event, including several team performances and solo acts. There will be some rapping, some attempts at comedy and at least one yo-yo demonstration.
“It will be about 50 percent humorous and 50 percent serious,” said Kendall Smith, a former varsity swimmer who is now a graduate assistant in the Office of Student Athlete Development.
The event, about a year in the making, is the brainchild of men’s basketball player Brandon Costner, who wanted his fellow athletes to have an outlet for expression other than the playing field or court. He’s been involved in the planning, along with swimmer Stephen Mellor and soccer player Ronnie Bouemboue, and a special committee of the SAAC.
“I feel like people like us, we like sitting in our room in the little free time that we have, doing other things,” Costner said. “And this is an opportunity to show it.”
Costner has enlisted the help of soccer players Dexter Adams and Eric Davis to come up with a rap for Monday’s show.
“We do a lot of other things than just our sport,”
“Of course, that’s not to say that we are all that good, but we enjoy it,”
“The audience should feel free to boo as much as they want as long as they aren’t booing me,” Costner said.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
