Georgia’s Noel Couch Named To SEC Gymnastics Community Service Team

Georgia senior Noel Couch has been named to the SEC Gymnastics Community Service Team, it was announced Friday by the league office.

The SEC sponsors a Community Service Team for each of its sports. The Gymnastics Community Service Team represents eight SEC gymnasts, one from each competing institution. The Community Service Team looks to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to their community in superior service efforts.

A native of Towaco, N.J., Couch is a member of the UGA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which serves as a medium of communication through which student-athletes, conference administrators, institutional representatives and coaches discuss and take action on issues relating to rules governance, student athlete welfare and community service. Her activities with SAAC include raising money for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, collecting money to purchase Thanksgiving dinners for families in need, volunteering at the annual Special Olympics “Home Runs for Hometown Rivals” baseball game, and serving meals to the homeless. She was awarded the Hornsby Howell Community Service Award for her work in the Athens area.

Couch was also a speaker for Girl Power Day, an event for underprivileged youth and girl scouts. In addition, she coached and interacted with participants at Special Olympics gymnastics practices. Couch also supported and aided Special Olympics participants in the SOAR 5K Race and led a warm up for the participants, and she also volunteered for the ‘In Her Shoes’ Breast Cancer Awareness Walk/Run.

The seven other gymnasts named to the SEC Community Service Team include Kim Jacob (Alabama), Kelci Lewis (Arkansas), Megan Walker (Auburn), Jamie Shishler (Florida), Kayla Hartley (Kentucky), Ericka Garcia (LSU) and Sandra Ostad (Missouri).

Couch and the sixth-ranked Gym Dogs will conclude the regular season at NC State Sunday at 1 p.m.