LSU players will take their talents from the field to the stage today for the first Mikie’s Student-Athlete Awards and Talent Show at 6 p.m. in the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes.
A back-to-school talent show with and for student-athletes existed years ago, and members of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, or SAAC, expressed a desire to bring the event back.
Madeline Jones, SAAC president and LSU volleyball player, said other SEC schools hold talent shows named after their mascots, which inspired the Mikie’s.
“The main motif was wanting to have our own kind of show here,” she said. “We’ve always been jealous of award shows that other SEC SAAC organizations have.”
Performances will include dances by the volleyball and swimming and diving teams, impersonations by the women’s basketball team and a satirical video by the soccer team.
Olympian and former LSU track athlete Lolo Jones will host the show, and the performances will be judged by three campus celebrities – football coach Les Miles, super-fan Matthew Clark and Fox 44 news anchor and former softball player Emily Turner.
Along with athlete-provided entertainment, the show will include presentations of awards decided by student-athlete votes, Jones said.
“Awards will include things like fiercest competitor, best play, most involved team, Mr. and Mrs. Congeniality and best hair,” she said. “There are some funny ones, but there are also some serious ones.”
Fundraising is another major reason the SAAC decided to host the talent show, Jones said.
According to Jones, all proceeds from ticket sales, which are $5 in advance or $7 at the door, go to a non-profit organization called Best Buddies. Members from Best Buddies will perform a dance for the opening act of the show, she said.
The Best Buddies program pairs a role-model figure with a “buddy” who has a mental or physical disability, said Megan Kinneman, LSU soccer player and Best Buddies participant.
The buddies have one-on-one hangouts regularly and participate in group activities, Kinneman said. Kinneman and her buddy attended the Krewe of Mutts parade in January and recently danced the night away at a prom, she said.
Kinneman said the student-athletes voted on an organization to sponsor for the show and Best Buddies was chosen since multiple athletes are involved in the program.
Jones said the talent show will be fun and light-hearted, and most importantly it benefits a good cause.
“It’s going to be pretty funny,” Jones said. “Most of the awards we’re giving out are humorous, and a lot of the acts are hilarious. We want people to come knowing that every cent of ticket costs goes to a good cause.”
 
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Contact Ferris McDaniel at [email protected]