On the weekend from Saturday, October 8 to Sunday October 9, Rockhurst’s Outdoors Club took a group of nine students to Truman Lake as part of the Club’s annual volunteering for the “Fishing for Freedom” tournament. While there, they did a variety of tasks to set up and run the tournament for participating veterans with disabilities, while also having the opportunity to camp, fish and just hang out over the weekend together.

“Fishing for Freedom is a one day tournament, but we make a whole weekend out of it,” said Greg Davidson, executive director of the program. “It’s for [participants in] the Global War on Terror, veterans and then Wounded Warriors.”

This year, the Outdoors Club marks their fifth Fishing For Freedom, having done so since 2016 with a brief hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19. Originally started as a now classic Outdoors Club trip by Rockhurst alumni Drake Adams and Ryan Roseboro during their years at Rockhurst, the tradition carried on long after their graduation, becoming a cornerstone part of the Outdoors Club’s yearly calendar.

“As club moderator, I think it’s really easy to find activities that are [purely] fun like, ‘We’re gonna go fishing, we’re gonna go to Peru or we’re gonna go to Switzerland,’” said Luke McLellan, moderator of the Outdoors Club, “[But at the same time] we’ve always looked for opportunities to give back, but also in a way that kind of fits the mission and vision of the club.

“It seemed like a really good way to converge that fishing/outdoors camping kind of side with something to say thank you to those that have served and given up a lot for our country,” said McLellan. 

Attracting veterans and volunteers from all across the country, the tournament is meant to provide an opportunity to give back to veterans who, as a result of war experience, were either physically or mentally harmed during their service. Free for the veterans who take part, the tournament gives these “Wounded Warriors” a day out on Truman Lake with a volunteer boater, competing in pairs to win in categories ranging from “Biggest Bass” to “Largest Trash Fish”.

To Davidson, the executive director of the event, and the Wounded Warriors participating, the tournament means everything.

“At the end of the day…it’s a lot of work. But when you see the smiles on their faces and they’re holding the fish up, it’s all worth it, right? All the guys from Rockhurst coming down here helping us, man it just made our weekend.”

Taking part in Fishing for Freedom can be fulfilling, but it also affords the opportunity for something coveted by Rockhurst students: service hours—on the note of 15 hours for just this trip alone. With sophomores and juniors required to complete 25 hours of service a year, (freshmen have built-in days of service and seniors serve organizations for three weeks in January as part of Senior Service) the trip can seem all too good to pass up for service hour hungry students.

Working for 15 hours of service might seem a bit intimidating at first, but the students who participated said it was a breeze. Leaving on Saturday morning from Rockhurst, students drove a couple hours to their campsite at Truman Lake where they started to set up the tournament. Students organized tackle bags and t-shirts for the veterans most of the early afternoon on Saturday. Later, they helped check veterans in and spooled reels to be given out.

After setting up tents and going to bed, they woke up extremely early on Sunday to help guide boat traffic at the marina, as well as assist veterans getting into the boats. When finished, they had several hours of free time to sleep, explore the area a bit or fish, with most students having brought rods with them already.

After going to Mass, the students served as runners for the tournament in the afternoon, taking fish caught by the veterans and putting them back in the water. The whole time students had catered food—barbecue, burgers, even cake—keeping them fueled and satisfied. They headed back to Rockhurst around three or four in the afternoon, passing out in the van after only a few minutes on the road. 

For the students that went, the experience couldn’t be beat.

“I thought it was a really good trip,” said freshman Bobby Clemons. “[I] made a lot of friends, had some good memories and met a lot of cool people. It was really fun.”

While most said they enjoyed the car ride or hanging out in the tents most, one sophomore, Logan Frank, called getting up early as one of the highlights of the trip. He said the morning before the sun rose just had a different feeling to it, so helping out so early didn’t feel nearly as bad as it sounds.

“It took a lot of work, but we got [everything] done.”

Just one of many events the Outdoors Club hosts every couple weeks, Fishing For Freedom makes its mark on both the students who attend and the Wounded Warriors who benefit from it.

“It’s this community, it’s a nice experience,” said McLellan, the club moderator. “You’re out, you’re camping, hanging out with your friends, meeting some really nice people and people that are super appreciative of us being there. The students, everybody really, have a great time.”

Frank certainly agreed. 

“I would go again. It’s just worth it.”