Wittenberg women's coach to go shoeless for charity

Jurewicz hopes to raise $1,000 for Barefoot for Bare Feet campaign.

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By David Jablonski, Staff Writer 11:14 PM Friday, February 3, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — Sarah Jurewicz was known as Say-J during her playing days at Wittenberg. After today, she might have a new nickname, “Shoeless” Sarah.

The Wittenberg women’s basketball coach will sport bright red nail polish on her toes, which everyone will see, because she will coach barefoot against Allegheny in a 3 p.m. game at Pam Evans Smith Arena. Jurewicz is trying to raise money for Samaritan’s Feet, an organization devoted to putting 10 million pairs of shoes on children’s feet around the world. It started the Barefoot for Bare Feet campaign.

Jurewicz coached practice barefoot Wednesday.

“I need you to get used to seeing me barefoot,” she told her players, “so you don’t have to worry about stepping on my feet on Saturday.”

A number of coaches across the country, including Butler’s Brad Stevens, have coached games barefoot. It’s something that comes natural to Jurewicz.

“For being an athlete my whole life and always having shoes on my feet, I don’t really like to wear shoes,” she said. “I love to be barefoot. Sometimes I’m barefoot in my office. I’m barefoot at home. It actually feels good.”

Jurewicz hopes to raise $1,000 and already had more than $700 in donations as of Wednesday. Her devotion to the cause began in 2009 when she visited the nation of Lesotho in southern Africa with a group of Wittenberg students and staff.

Since then, she has sat on the board of BLOOM Africa, a non-profit organization founded by Wittenberg alum Andrew Steele. Its mission is to “provide resources to Lesotho’s orphaned and vulnerable children through Community Learning Centers.”

The Barefoot for Bare Feet effort fell in line with BLOOM Africa’s goals.

“It’s really hard when you see kids who don’t have shoes on their feet, or even if they do, they have holes in their shoes,” Jurewicz said. “Giving kids shoes gives them hope that they can be more active and not worry about their feet.”

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