Dear Friends of William & Mary Athletics,
 
Many people enjoy listening to music while they work, but I bet I'm one of a very few who takes as much pleasure in hearing (and feeling) the sounds of jackhammering in the office.  To me it's a sweet racket that's tangible evidence of the progress we are making on the W&M Athletics Complex and that is definitely music to my ears!
 
There's also more progress on the financial front as we are edging ever closer to the end of our fiscal year (June 30).  After I wrote at the end of May, 290 of you responded to our appeal with a total of $900,000 in gifts to our various sports and we can't thank you enough for your generosity.
 
Since we are still $1 million away from our overall goal, there is still more work to do, so if you can possibly make a gift to your favorite Tribe sport before July 1, we would be deeply grateful. The chart below shows the progress of each program. 
   
A couple of weeks ago all of our coaches and senior staff participated in a retreat and one of the most highly anticipated items on the agenda was a session by Bob Rotella, one of the world's most lauded sports psychologists. A guy who counts athletes like LeBron James and Rory McIlroy as clients definitely has some things to say that we want to hear!
 
I knew Bob's session was a hit when he was giving us the 10 most critical items for a team's success and he inadvertently skipped #9 and half of our coaches jumped out of their seats to point out the omission!  A point of pride at W&M is the way we invest in our people, and there is a multiplying effect when we invest in our coaches, who then pay it forward by improving the performance of our student-athletes.
 
Speaking of awesome performances, our student-athletes reached new heights in the classroom this spring by reaching a cumulative departmental GPA of 3.43 for the semester.  Led by women's gymnastics with a 3.75 GPA and on the men's side by golf's 3.63 GPA, this is the first time all programs surpassed the 3.0 mark.  Congratulations!
 
 The next spectacular performance I want to highlight occurred not in the classroom or in competition, but in a hospital. Offensive lineman Charles Grant added his name to the national bone marrow registry in the spring of 2022 and just over one year later was notified he had matched with a potential recipient.  He never hesitated and underwent a 7-hour procedure to help save the life of a stranger in desperate need.  Please take a moment to read Charles' story and join me in saluting this awesome young man.
 
 In closing I want to share a great photo from the W&M Weekend in San Francisco held earlier this month.  It was truly a coming together of the W&M community with alums, deans and administrators, teammates and friends gathering for the superb events.  The opening reception sponsored by Athletics featured remarks by two outstanding alums, Kathy Carter '91, chief executive officer of LA28, the summer 2028 Olympic and Paralympic games in Los Angeles, and Jill Ellis '88, L.H.D. '16, president of San Diego Wave FC and a two-time world champion as the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team, who was just inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. 
 
In all, it was a fun-filled weekend that brought our Tribe Community together for a good times and a great cause!

Go Tribe!
 
Brian D. Mann
Director of Athletics