Recess Matters – California Golden Bears Athletics

Cal Athletics

Cal student-athletes are making an impact in the surrounding community by collaborating with local schools to promote positive play, early college awareness, and provide literacy support for students in need.

This feature originally appeared in the 2025 Summer edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to CalAthleticsFund@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.
 
 
If there was one thing Ari Manrique always looked forward to at school growing up, it was recess.
 
For about 30 minutes each day, Manrique – a former captain for the Cal women’s soccer team – was free to run around and express herself. It was an opportunity for her to take a break from learning in the classroom to have fun, spend a little quality time with her friends, and prove that she belonged athletically on the playground.
 
But recess doesn’t mean the same thing to every child.
 
For many others, it isn’t always a positive experience, which is why last year the Cameron Institute collaborated with the Berkeley School of Education to launch the “Critical Service Learning and Community Building Through Sport” course for Cal student-athletes, aimed at collaborating with local schools to promote positive play, early college awareness, and provide literacy support for students in need.
 
“It’s been our vision for the Cameron Institute to provide a pathway for student-athletes to go deeper in their service learning and collaboration with our local community,” Cameron Institute Director of Community Engagement Jessie Stewart said. “Our goal was to leverage our assets here at Cal, and we are grateful to have found an amazing partner in the Berkeley School of Education to develop a section of the Practicum in Education that takes a critical service learning focus.”
 
While the Cameron Institute has helped facilitate volunteering at local schools for years, the new course has provided a more structured approach to tending to the needs vocalized by local schools, all while simultaneously giving Cal student-athletes the chance to earn school credits as they contribute to their surrounding community.
 
The course aims to address inequities such as access to play and exposure to sport, early college awareness, and disparities between socioeconomic gender and racial groups, with a primary focus on promoting the importance of positive play within inclusive environments that are safe and enjoyable for all.
 
“We want to be more than just visitors within our local schools. We are honored to be invited into schools across our local community, and we aim to be true partners with a positive presence who provide value,” Stewart said. “The class also provides an opportunity for our student-athletes to learn and apply the approach of community-centered engagement, gain critical perspective, and take that back and become leaders on their own teams and within their communities and lives beyond Cal.”
 
After first hearing of the course, Manrique – who works with special needs students at Emerson Elementary in North Oakland – quickly embraced and fell in love with the work she is doing, so much so that it has sparked her continuing interest in working with the special needs community.
 
“When I got here, I saw that there is such a need for the next generation to receive this kind of attention and care, and that educators as a whole are spread so thin,” Manrique said. “You don’t realize how big it is to hold a kid’s hand and run with them around the playground. Instead of taking their outside time to just sit down somewhere, now they’re interacting, learning how to play tag. It’s a work in progress and it takes showing up every day for those routines to develop and for them to trust you. But once it’s there, it’s an incredible thing.”
 
Manrique’s athletic prowess that leads to building confidence and social skills is not a universal trait for all children, but she has been able to lean on other experiences from her youth to connect with the students and show them that no matter what their background, they can achieve big things.
 
“I didn’t grow up around many college-educated people who could tell me, ‘College isn’t scary.’ It wasn’t something anyone in my close circle had navigated and completed,” Manrique said. “I was lucky enough to have athletics as a safety net under me, but not everybody has that, so you try to understand that platform you have. The idea of being able to help bridge the equity gap for these kids is super important.”
 

In addition to physical activity, there is also an emphasis on reading support, which has seen Cal programs such as women’s basketball, football, track & field, and men’s & women’s rowing help make an impact with middle school students at KIPP Bridge Academy.
 
“Our students really look forward to having someone help them with their work. They love talking to the players, asking how they got to college, what they do at school and what their life is like,” KIPP Bridge Academy Student Support Specialist Cameron Stephenson said. “You can see growth in the reading levels of my reading intervention students who have worked with the tutors. Having more adults in the room helps give the kids, some whom have severe learning needs and disabilities, more one-on-one attention. The tutors help to teach them how to address their frustrations and provide support that goes beyond reading.”
 
The flexibility of the “Critical Service Learning and Community Building Through Sport” course, which requires between 1.5 to 7.5 hours per week working with kids at a local school, allowed Manrique to earn units even while she is in season. It’s another one of many reasons why she has encouraged her friends and teammates to follow her lead in taking the class as well. The course combines weekly readings and reflective assignments with comprehensive support – including initial onboarding and regular one-on-one advising. Schedules are tailored in partnership with the school site to accommodate training, travel, and competition demands throughout the season.
 
“It’s a beautiful thing that even people who don’t want to be educators get something out of working with kids and gaining a larger perspective,” Manrique said. “Being a student-athlete at Cal, we can take things for granted and get stuck focusing on excelling in sports and school, but I was fortunate to be in a place where I had great academic, athletic, and holistic support that gives you the opportunity to give back. It’s really about becoming a fully well-rounded individual so that when you walk out of here, you feel prepared to go out into the world and make a true difference. That’s something this class and the Cameron Institute in general have given me the ability to do.”
 
Looking ahead, the Cameron Institute aims to expand the program to engage even more student-athletes across Cal Athletics teams, and to continue to deepen collaboration with local public schools and aligned community-based organizations focused on expanding equitable access to sports, positive play and academic enrichment.
 
The Cameron Institute was made possible thanks to a generous endowment gift by C. Bryan Cameron in 2019. Visit CalBears.com/CameronInstitute to learn more about the Cameron Institute and the impactful work from our Community Engagement pillar.