It’s often challenging for student athletes to have free time. The daily grind from practice, lifting weights, watching film and going to class tends to wear on them.
    But the K-State football team has found ways to make its fair share of sacrifices while helping to better the Manhattan community. It’s something that is important to the players and coaches.
    This summer, when the tornado tore paths of destruction through the city, the K-State football team ignored its personal interests and took the time to provide aid as a unit to those who were affected.
    Approximately 100 players, coaches and staff members gathered the morning after the storm at the Miller Ranch residential area, which suffered some of the worst damage.
    They worked for four hours, moving debris and helping to provide moral support to the community.
    Junior receiver Brandon Banks said it was a new experience for him.
    “It was pretty scary,” he said. “I had never experienced anything like that. It was pretty devastating waking up the next morning and going to help others clean up.
    “I think it was a good bonding moment. It brought us together and it made us appreciate what we have and helped us understand that some people don’t get everything.”
     When it comes to community service within the football program, it’s hard to find any player more willing to donate his spare time than junior tight end Jeron Mastrud.
    “That tornado clean-up was eye-opening for a lot of us,” Mastrud, who was one of 71 players nominated for the 2008 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, said.
    “It was a new experience to see people just show up one day and their whole house is gone from the foundation. It was good to go out to help those people who went from a nice area and a nice house to just having nothing.”
    Mastrud also serves on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, which helps to coordinate strategies to get student athletes active in the community.
    “It’s big for Coach Prince,” Mastrud said. “There are a lot of opportunities that they give for us and the athletes here in general.”
    He also said it is something he enjoys.
    “It’s something that I don’t mind doing,” Mastrud said. “The kids enjoy it, and you go there and it really gives you a good perspective of how they look at you and how they look up to you.”
    Approximately half of the team went to the Veterans Hospital in Topeka two weeks ago to visit with the veterans from the Vietnam War who have disabilities.
    “We just went over there and tried to bring their spirits up,” Banks said.
    Members of the football team also find time to donate to helping children throughout the local communities.
    Groups, which usually include five players, often find time to go read to kids at the elementary level.
    “We go to the elementary school kids around Topeka, Junction City and Manhattan and tell them how great it is to stay in school and keep studying and working hard,” Banks said.
    Banks said it is something he takes great pride in doing.
    “I feel pretty good that I can actually give back to the little kids,” he said. “When we go there they will be really excited. I just feel good that I can make somebody else happy by just going to school and doing something that I love to do.”
    The players said community service is one of Prince’s main priorities, as it represents a strong presence in the community outside of football.
    “[Prince] wants to show Kansas State football to the many fans that we have out there,” said freshman safety Tysyn Hartman. “It’s important to show them that we actually care about them just as much as they care about us.”