HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WMUL-FM) \u2014\u00a0Thundering Herd athletics are part of something bigger than Marshall University. They are part of a Huntington community that is deeply involved with the school. So, Herd athletes find ways to give back to this community as much as possible.<\/p>\n
During the 2025-26 academic year, Marshall student-athletes completed more than 5,500 hours of community service. Thundering Herd volleyball contributed nearly 500 hours, more than double the team\u2019s goal. This total surpassed the goals of all other Marshall teams.<\/p>\n
Student-athlete volunteer projects range from working at food pantries to visiting local schools and shelters. However, the volleyball team emphasized working with local children, especially through the YMCA, to share their love of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think any time that we do something for the YMCA, it makes me really happy to see the young kids in the community get excited about volleyball,\u201d Marshall volleyball head coach Heather Stout said. \u201cVolleyball is the fastest-growing game for female sports right now. West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky have been areas that haven’t had that buy-in in the past 10 years; it’s been more of a basketball and softball area. So, when we have people excited about volleyball, it gets me excited about things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maya Hunt recorded the most community service hours among student-athletes, totaling 60. Hunt, a redshirt junior setter from Independence, Ky., serves as a community service chair on Marshall University\u2019s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, where she helps fellow student-athletes find opportunities to engage with the local community.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunity service, when I was being recruited by Marshall, that was one of the first questions I asked,\u201d Hunt said. \u201cIt was like, \u2018What does the team do? How involved are they in the community?\u2019 I think that’s one of the things that’s so special about Marshall – how involved Marshall is in the community and how involved the community is in Marshall. So, being able to not only do the community service myself but involve my team, it just means a lot. It was really awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hunt\u2019s enthusiasm for community service and her character align with what Stout expects from the athletes she coaches<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m not surprised at all. That’s just who Maya is,\u201d Stout said. \u201cShe is an amazing human being. Her character is just so sound. Everything that she does in her life is just a walking model of what we want from our student-athletes\u2026 Maya Hunt has made Marshall better. That’s what I want. I want our players to do things for Huntington because that is our why: it\u2019s these people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hunt\u2019s mom, Jill, is the club director of Northern Kentucky Youth Volleyball Club. As a result, Hunt has coached kids for as long as she can remember. After moving to Huntington, she continued working with children was on board with the team\u2019s YMCA initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of my teammates actually got their start in volleyball through the YMCA,\u201d Hunt said. \u201cSo, getting to give back to those kids who are also starting their volleyball journey through the YMCA is so awesome. I think volleyball itself in West Virginia is just starting to grow and starting to become a more prominent sport. So, being able to be the team that\u2019s around, helping them grow and helping them get to where we are is just such a cool experience\u2026 Working with these kids who really haven’t had a lot of volleyball experience before and seeing the joy that volleyball brings them is just unmatched.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s outreach in the community does not go unnoticed. People recognize that these are Division I athletes who take time out of their busy schedules to give back.<\/p>\n
\u201cHeather [Stout] has really created a special culture with the team as far as giving back to the community and getting everyone involved,\u201d said Judy Eaton, the Phil Cline Branch Director of the Huntington YMCA. \u201cI mean they\u2019re just everywhere\u2026 We’re super thankful that they come and help us out here at the YMCA\u2026 They’re positive role models. Every one of the Marshall volleyball players that I’ve met and been in contact with is just a leader. They’re fun. They’re energetic\u2026 They provide a great role model for the kids. So, I think that’s super important to have growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2025-26 academic year marked Gerald J. Harrison\u2019s first as Marshall University\u2019s Vice President and Director of Athletics. When he first came to Marshall, he said that he did not want to produce just winning programs, but also individuals who win at life.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be the most complete athletics department in the country, you gotta serve,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cYou can’t just take. We gotta serve and give. That’s the culture that we want to begin. So, I tell our coaches, if a person doesn’t want to do community service, don’t sign them to come play sports at Marshall. Community service is just a part of it, like going to class. It\u2019s just a part of competing for championships. It\u2019s something that we gotta do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The volleyball team averaged more than 30 hours of community service per person. The goal for Marshall student-athletes is 15 hours. Harrison said the volleyball team went above and beyond to play its part in helping others.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw a desire. They wanted to do it,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cCoach Stout was really big at making sure that they got out in the community and had the opportunities\u2026 What I saw from them is they had a love for children. They had a love for teaching volleyball and sport. They love to just be there and be a part of the Huntington community. That is what being a part of the Herd is about\u2026 I think community service is a great example of what we are supposed to be as adults. We are supposed to give back to our community. Nobody made it here alone. There were always people to support us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Night to Shine, an event that stood out to the volleyball team, is sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation and took place in February at Christ Temple Church. It is a prom night experience for people with disabilities. Hunt was one of several Herd players who volunteered to be a guest\u2019s date.<\/p>\n
\u201cNight to Shine is one of my favorite events,\u201d Hunt said. It was so fun\u2026 We get dressed up. We get dinner with them. We dance. They do karaoke. We take pictures. It’s so special because it’s all about them. The dates get to have this time. The name is fitting. It is a night for them to shine. They get to get dressed up. They get their hair done and their makeup done. It’s just such a cool event and it’s so special to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event was about more than simply volunteering time. It offered perspective on how fortunate some people are and what others go through.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was awesome just to see some of those young men and women have their night made by getting walked out with one of ours,\u201d Stout said. \u201cIt just adds value to how life is so precious. Volleyball is an important piece of that and it’s special, but being around people like that who actually are going through something hard. Man, we have it good here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The volleyball team said it wanted to attract more fans into the stands for the 2026 season. Coach Stout heard that and said she had the answer: go earn it. Although improving attendance may not be Marshall\u2019s main goal with community service, people show up for individuals they get to know. Stout said that after last year\u2019s service numbers, the volleyball team has seen an impact on the community\u2019s buy-in.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur fan base has definitely grown,\u201d Stout said. \u201cI think that the more that our women can get seen, the more it’s just awesome for the people in this community to see what kind of character women that we have\u2026 This is a small town. So, you lean on your people more. If you want to see them, then they have to have that buy-in. Community service is where you can do that\u2026 It\u2019s not just that community members come out because there\u2019s a game day at Marshall. No, they need to know that this person is on the team. She\u2019s from this area. She helped out at this stuff locally. I want to come and attend. So, there has to be more buy-in from us first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gerald J. Harrison worked in athletics for more than 25 years. During that time, he learned how important community buy-in is.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody wants to play in front of a full stadium,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cBut you can\u2019t expect people to come out and support you if you don\u2019t support them\u2026 Every one of our student-athletes has spent time in our communities doing something. Every one of them. If you do that, then you never know the person in life you’ll touch\u2026 You never know whose life you’re going to change, and that’s important. I think when they go out there and they see and feel the way the community moves and reacts to them, it fuels them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marshall athletics will always be an important part of Marshall University. However, the relationship between the Herd and Huntington extends far beyond game days. Marshall student-athletes find ways to make an impact in the community beyond the court or field.<\/p>\n
Last year, community service became more than a requirement for the volleyball team. It was a way for the Herd to connect with and give back to the people who support them. Maya Hunt and her teammates showed that being a Marshall athlete means being part of something bigger than oneself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Marshall Volleyball Community Service Feature By Shane Darling, FM88 Sports Director HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WMUL-FM) \u2014\u00a0Thundering Herd athletics are part of something bigger than Marshall University. They are part of a Huntington community that is deeply involved with the school. So, Herd athletes find ways to give back to this community as much as possible. During<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1074,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[115,1921,100,1929,1258,678,1925,381,1928,590,1922,69,1930,1923,28,138,205,1924,1336,1931,181,328,329,23,212,1926,211,1927,51,96,1932,1933],"class_list":["post-5462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wmul-sports","tag-college-radio","tag-community-service","tag-fm88-sports","tag-gerald-harrison","tag-gerald-j-harrison","tag-heather-stout","tag-herd-community-service","tag-herd-volleyball","tag-herd-volunteer","tag-huntington","tag-huntington-community","tag-huntington-wv","tag-judy-eaton","tag-marshall-community-service","tag-marshall-university","tag-marshall-university-athletics","tag-marshall-volleyball","tag-marshall-volunteer","tag-maya-hunt","tag-night-to-shine","tag-shane-darling","tag-shane-darling-marshall","tag-shane-darling-wmul","tag-thundering-herd","tag-thundering-herd-athletics","tag-thundering-herd-community-service","tag-thundering-herd-volleyball","tag-thundering-herd-volunteer","tag-wmul","tag-wv","tag-ymca","tag-ymca-volleyball"],"acf":[],"fimg_url":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5463,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5462\/revisions\/5463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/wmul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}