As an ECAC Intern it has been a pleasure to be part of the planning and implementation of the 29 Fall Championships we have held this year. I was surprised at the amount of travel I was able to partake in over the championship season as I have ventured to four separate Northeast championship sites in the past six weeks. My travel log includes: Williamstown, Massachusetts; Frostburg, Maryland; Bronx, New York; and Long Island, New York.

Prior to the championship season, I had spent most of September and October in the planning and preparation stages. Most of my time was filled with sorting and organizing declared teams, trophies, championship banners, selection committees and the like. I spoke with countless athletic directors, host site administrators and coaches finalizing manuals and details of specific championships. I admit while I found much of the planning an interesting learning experience, by the end of October, deskwork had lost some of its luster and it was a welcoming change of pace to get out of the office and work with some of the individuals and member institutions I had been planning with. It was a very rewarding experience to see how each institution hosted their specific championship. I enjoyed the level of enthusiasm and professionalism that institutions demonstrated in the field

Looking ahead, I’m excited to repeat the same process for our winter and spring championships. We are already well into the planning stages for winter and spring is beginning to shape up as well. Can’t wait to get out there and see what college athletics is like at new institutions in different areas of the Northeast. I don’t have complete autonomy over my travel itinerary so I’m hoping to see some new faces along the way. The Synchronized Swimming Championships held at Canisius College is of particular interest to me. Gelling, A Elements and B Figures were all new terms to me as of September and I’m interested to see what the Canisius College Campus and Buffalo, New York are like.

The ECAC just wrapped up an exciting fall season, which included the crowning of almost 30 2011 ECAC Champions!  Congratulations to those that took home hardware this fall and to all the great programs that were selected for our championships.  I had the opportunity to attend championship events hosted by Alvernia (field hockey, men’s soccer), Williams College (cross country), and St. John Fisher (golf), and was impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm our members have in hosting ECAC events.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fantastic job our fall selection committees did in choosing and seeding our team championships.  We would not be able to determine competitive championships without their guidance and efforts!

For the complete results from the fall, be sure to check out www.ecacsports.com.  Our redesigned website makes finding the schedule and results much, much easier!

Speaking of our new site, be sure to look at some of the new features the ECAC is providing as we enter the winter season, including the ECAC Video Play of the Week.

The ECAC Video Play of the Week  is a great new way for us to feature our member schools and student-athletes for the great plays they make throughout the year.  Our first ten finalists were announced today, so make sure to vote for your favorite highlight!  Be sure to participate in this program by contacting our communications department for more information.

Good luck to everyone as we continue the winter season!

Dear Visitor:

Welcome to the official Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) blog, http://ecacsports.wordpress.com/, which we unveiled this week. We are excited about this venture because it coincides with other media platforms that we are initiating. The purpose of this blog is also to show the personal side of the staffers who comprise the administrative offices of the Asa S. Bushnell Center. You may also learn more in a future posting about the inside workings of the ECAC on how we do business on a day-to-day basis.

Some of the other initiatives that we are employing include the ECAC Video Play of the Week, re-launch of ECACsports.com and our official Twitter feed, and “ECAC Spotlight: Getting to know our Neighbors” Q&A feature. All of these tools are aimed to better serve our membership, corporate partners and our visitors to the ECAC family of websites (http://www.ecac.org/splash/index). Be sure to “like” us on Facebook as well.

We look forward to engaging with you, our fans, and we hope that you find these mediums interesting.

If you have any thoughts to share, please contact us. Until then, stay tuned to the next ECAC blog posting.

Thank you for taking the time to visit us online.

Sincerely, Patrick