All Vote No Play Day refers to the NCAA’s 2020 decision to make Election Day (or two weeks prior) a mandatory day OFF from athletic activity at the Division 1 level. The Team and the NCAA encourage teams from all divisions to treat this as a day for nonpartisan civic engagement! The goal is to have every athletic department in college campuses across the country do their part in celebrating All Vote No Play Day.
All Vote No Play Day has been gaining momentum each year since 2020 as student athletes, coaches, and administrators across the country actively promote civic engagement.
Kansas Robinson, Northwestern softball player class of 2025 expressed what it means to her to be an engaged athlete.
"To be an engaged athlete means being fully committed and involved not only in your sport but in your community both mentally and physically. It goes beyond just participating or going through the motions. Being engaged means being intentional, passionate, and committed to bettering yourself, your team, and your community," said Kansas Robinson, Northwestern Softball Class of 2026.
Kansas is a member of The Engaged Athlete Fellowship, a project of The Team and The Bridge Alliance who have teamed up to create the inaugural class of 28 NCAA athletes working in many areas of civic engagement.
College athletes are in a unique position as campus leaders to take this energy and help us all rise above what divides us to elevate civic action and a sense of community. The Engaged Athlete Fellowship program on college campuses across the country aims to do just that.
The inaugural season of the Engaged Athlete Fellowship is focused on building upon the sense of community that sports generates by inspiring and shaping the leaders of tomorrow. This groundbreaking program will engage a diverse group of 28 student athletes from across the country offering nonpartisan programming focused on: leadership development, mentoring, a year-long civic project, and a multi-day end of year experience in Washington, D.C.
This election day The Team is committed to making All Vote No Play Day both easy and meaningful for athletes, coaches and administrators by offering two exciting ways to get involved:
● On and leading up to November 7th, they are launching a dynamic social media campaign to encourage participation. This toolkit is available to everyone to spread the work: social media toolkit
● They are helping athletes and athletic departments promote civic engagement by preparing a one pager that outlines easy and accessible ways to engage with All Vote No Play Day this year. These tools are designed to help college athletes grow their civic muscles and make the most of their day off.
Even though this is an off year election voting this November 7th there are still nearly 20,000 cities, towns and villages across the United States holding vital elections. The mayors and councilors and school board members that will be elected this year will do more to impact your daily lives than the folks we send to Washington, D.C.
Be a part of this nationwide movement to develop teammates, inspire leaders, and empower citizens!
Watch a video from PAC-12 on the creation and building of this nationwide movement.
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on August 14, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Trump is traveling to Long Island to tour law enforcement facilities in Nassau County and rally support for local Republican candidates ahead of the upcoming midterm elections
Travel Far Enough, You Meet Yourself
Is it possible that our President has simply not traveled enough?
Born and raised in Queens and attending Fordham University in the Bronx, Donald Trump has no record of traveling outside New York until he was over 20, when he transferred to a college in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. Were his formative years amiss, then, in his learning about other places and other people?
Is his view akin to the famous New Yorker cover by Saul Steinberg, an illustration of the United States with New York City as the epicenter of the country and the Hudson River the border of the known world? We can now at least add Washington, D.C., and Mar-a-Lago to the map of “the realm.”
Our President has now traveled some, but what we recommend is another kind of travel. Not a state-sponsored trip or a venture to scout locations for future Trump Towers. This would be a genuine travel experience, enriching and eye-opening, showcasing other cultures and ways of living.
It will extend far beyond viewing military parades, hobnobbing with such “understanding” world leaders as Kim Jong Un, or taking tea with the King.
WHERE, then, should the President go? As Elon Musk’s Starship spacecraft is not yet ready to take passengers to Mars, perhaps he could explore our own vast country?
Maybe he could travel to “flyover country,” the farming states, where his ying-yanging tariffs and trade restrictions have played havoc with rural economies. Or possibly to California, number one in homeless U. S. citizens, and while there, regale homeless veterans (approximately 32,500 nationwide) with tales of his brave exploits invading and bombing foreign countries.
Or he might tour the Great Lakes, and rename the other four?
WHEN should he go? This will be tough, as he is very busy building his ballroom and renaming bodies of water.
How about a trip in early November, around the midterm elections? Despite the long-discredited accusation of widespread voter fraud, it would be reassuring to know he might be so caught up divvying out ladles of soup in a soup kitchen somewhere that he wouldn’t remember to deploy the military for “election security.”
HOW will he travel? He should definitely not take his Qatari-donated, newly renovated 747, especially after last time, when he had to be smuggled off clandestinely in a catering truck. It’s unlikely any traveling companions, like the Secretary of State or of the Treasury, are going to fall for the ruse a second time. Besides, we may need those people. No more decoys!
Perhaps the President could fly commercially, although this likely would expose him to undue suffering. Without gold bathroom fixtures and maple wood floors, the trip will be no “Luxury Experience.” If only he still had his “Trump Shuttle,” bought with a massive loan he later defaulted on, saying then, “I’m smart. I got out at a good time.”
Considering the potential pitfalls, maybe it’s best the President travel incognito, disguised perhaps as an elderly woman wearing a lot of bronzer.
Wherever, whenever, however: our President needs a vacation.
Moreover, we need a vacation from him.
If the President refuses our travel suggestions, here’s another idea:
Let’s get him a pet! He has never owned a pet. As we know with our children, pets teach essential life lessons: compassion and empathy; they instill a sense of responsibility. There is a well-established connection between those who can care for a pet and those who can care for people.
So, which pet should we choose? A puppy? A kitten? A boa constrictor?
Imagine, the President may even decide he likes having a pet. After all, what is more obedient than a well-trained dog, besides possibly the Cabinet? And what is more docile than a sweet kitten, other than plausibly the Supreme Court?
The President may even become more mellow with a pet afoot and less likely to slap tariffs on our allies, or attempt to annex our neighbors, or bully our Congress. (Realizing, of course, a bully requires active participation from the bullied to maintain his status.)
Maybe we should do both: get the President a pet and devise a travel plan for him. (Do you think we could possibly convince him to leave his phone at home?)
Let’s go for it! After all:
Travel far enough, you meet yourself. (David Mitchell)
And for our President, that would likely be the most profound discovery of all.
Amy Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."