Nov 16, 2009 by samir

Marist Gives Sportsvite the Old College Try

Intramural Sports have grown in popularity over the last 20 years and are offered at nearly every college and university across the country. This growth — both in the number of sports offered and players participating — has led to the need for greater organization when it comes to rosters, schedules and team communication. This has resulted in the move to online solutions and we’ve seen this first-hand with the growth and success of POWERADE College Intramurals, a partnership between Sportsvite, CBS College Sports and POWERADE.

Intramurals are a fun way for students to continue competing at the college level and have become a huge part of the college experience. The intramurals program at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY is a prime example of a school with a large population of students who still want to play organized sports. Sportsvite was introduced to Marist College Intramurals by Kieran Begley, Graduate Assistant, Intramurals & Club Sports at Marist College and a member of Sportsvite. He became a Sportsvite member this summer after being invited by a fellow rec athlete and immediately saw the fit for his program.

Last year, Marist was using Facebook to organize intramural schedules, post standings, and manage the leagues. Needless to say, this became quite a daunting task as Facebook doesn’t natively have sports management features. “Marist students - and college students in general - are extremely comfortable with communicating online and prefer to do so in most cases,” said Begley. “We were using Facebook and email to communicate last year, but since Sportsvite is specifically geared to manage rec sports, it made too much sense not to use it for our program.”

Gone are the days of clunky Facebook groups for league management. Here are the days of having fun, without having to worry about whether your teammates know where and when to have it. And, the addition of Facebook Connect on Sportsvite makes the transition for students that much easier.

With the introduction of Sportsvite for the 2009-10 academic year, the Marist Intramurals Program is now able to easily:

• Post team rosters, schedules and standings
• Communicate important information (venue, schedule changes, etc.) to players
• Upload photos/videos of players and action photos

It’s no small task to manage such a large program that continues to grow each semester. “Our main goal is to provide a sport or activity that meets the desire of every student on campus,” said Begley. “In the fall of 2008, we had 6 Intramural sports/activities. Since then, we’ve added 16 sports and activities - all of which were initiated in large part by students walking into my office and suggesting that we add their favorite sport. Ideally, we would like every student on campus to be involved in at least one intramural sport/activity and using Sportsvite will help us stay organized as we continue to grow.”

Begley isn’t the only one who has enjoyed the fruits of Sportsvite’s labor. “There’s no question that it’s made my job a little easier,” said Begley. “But the real barometer for a successful integration has been the feedback from the student commissioners, captains and players who love using the tool. They’re still going to use Facebook and Twitter for their social networking, but Sportsvite is now their preferred social network for their sports activities.”

Overtime

2009-10 Intramural Sports offered at Marist College

Aikido, Badminton, Basketball (Men’s and Women’s), Dodgeball, Field Hockey, Flag Football (Men’s and Women’s), Golf, Kickball, Lacrosse (Men’s and Women’s), Racquetball, Running, Soccer, Softball, Tae Kwon Do, Tennis, Ultimate Frisbee, Volleyball, Wiffleball, Zumba

Do you or someone you know have an intriguing story that we should share with the Sportsvite community? If the answer is yes, send an email to Nick B. and provide him with a summary and contact information.

Nov 09, 2009 by Nick

Sports For A Cause: Rebuild. Rebound. Repeat.

The city of New Orleans had a rich history and a unique culture. It was known for Mardi Gras, live jazz music and jambalaya. All of that changed on August 29, 2005 when Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the ‘Crescent City’ and left the region under water. Now, New Orleans is known for a hurricane and the subsequent flooding that destroyed the city. It’s been more than four years since that fateful day and the city has only begun to rebound.

Americans responded to this tragedy by donating money, time and supplies. The media coverage kept the people of New Orleans top of mind for months following the storm. Unfortunately, when the media coverage slowed, so did the volunteering. Sports played a large role in the initial recovery of the city, but that impact slowed as well.

Brandon Tosti, a Sportsvite member and ten-year veteran in the sports industry, understood the power of sports and the impact it has on a community. He was inspired by an article in an August 2007 issue of Sports Illustrated that provided a shocking reality of the state of New Orleans schools and youth athletic facilities nearly 2 years after the storm. This inspiration led to the creation of Sports For A Cause (SFAC), a Denver-based 501c(3) non-profit organization that organizes volunteer rebuilding trips and equipment donation projects year-round to help rebuild New Orleans.

“I knew that many people wanted to help rebuild New Orleans, but they didn’t know how or where to start,” said Tosti. “I quickly realized that the sports industry provided the perfect mix of staff, sponsors, and contacts with the knowledge, experience and networks necessary to successfully execute aid projects of this magnitude.”

The people of New Orleans have responded as well. “The local community has been overwhelmingly supportive and always helps me connect with the right people and strategic contacts. It has been a remarkable response and has truly restored my belief in humanity,” said Tosti. “I always tell people that the one thing that motivates me to continue our work in the city is that the people that we have met and continue to work with are positive-minded, upbeat and energetic individuals.”

The fact is that athletic opportunities for the youth of New Orleans still don’t exist in many neighborhoods. Some playgrounds are still condemned and some schools will have to be demolished. “The goal of SFAC is to provide as many schools in New Orleans with the sports equipment they need for Physical Education classes, scholastic athletic teams and community youth sports leagues,” said Tosti. “In mid-October, we held an equipment drive, filled a truck with sports equipment, drove it down to New Orleans and refurbished a rec center in the Lower 9th Ward with several volunteers.”

SFAC’s primary mission is to clean and rebuild playgrounds and youth athletic facilities in the Gulf Region that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, but they’ve also begun to give back to their home city of Denver as well. “Our organization is continuing to grow and beginning to respond to other communities in need,” said Tosti. “We understand the value of sports and know that it can make a difference in a child’s life, especially it keeps them away from drugs or gangs, which is part of the problem in many cities across the country.”

For more information on Sports For A Cause, please visit them on the web at sportsforacause.org or join the cause on Facebook.

Overtime

Interested in getting involved with Sports For A Cause? Here are some opportunities…

• Time — Join SFAC for one of their volunteer trips to New Orleans. They currently go in March and October, with plans to add another trip in April, May or June. If you’re interested in volunteering, please contact Brandon Tosti.
• Word of Mouth — Spread the word to your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn contacts about the organization. Or, provide SFAC with strategic contacts that might help them with equipment, shipping or advertising.
• Equipment Donation — Donate slightly used sports equipment or gather a group of friends and purchase soccer balls, dodgeballs, tennis rackets or footballs for a class or team.
• Monetary Donation — Any amount helps SFAC, even if it’s only $5 or $10. The entire SFAC staff volunteers their time to maintain extremely low overhead and maximizes every dollar donated.

Do you or someone you know have an intriguing story that we should share with the Sportsvite community? If the answer is yes, send an email to Nick B. and provide him with a summary and contact information.

Oct 23, 2009 by Nick

Sportsvite Member Profile: Brian Keller

Brian Keller is on a journey. No, he’s not road-tripping it to Vegas or heading down I-10 for a Seminoles football game. Keller is on a journey to achieve the new him.

Sports have always played a large role in Keller’s life — both personally and professionally. He grew up an avid sports fan and credits his father, a football letterwinner at Central College in Pella, IA, with introducing him to the world of sports. He’s been a rec athlete since his youth, trying his hand at sports like baseball, basketball, football, tennis, golf, racquetball, soccer, and volleyball along the way. “I’ve never claimed to be an all-star,” says Keller. “But, I really enjoy playing and the camaraderie that comes along with participating in team sports.”

Brian is a guy who always puts other people before him. Unfortunately, this neglect began to impact his health. “I’ve always been a heavy person, as I was around 200 pounds in high school, got as heavy as 270 in college, and kept around 280 during my years out of college,” says Keller. He continued on his downward spiral after relocating to Central Florida in 2006 for a new job opportunity. From 2006-08, Keller became a self-described “workaholic.” He was working long and erratic hours that made exercising and eating healthy a challenge. Other than a brief period of a positive regimen that resulted in a weight loss of 30 pounds, his waistband was beginning to grow larger month after month. In 2008, the only exercise that fit into his schedule were the Thursday night company softball games - and most of the cardio came from the errant throws back to the pitching mound following a putout at first base. The calories burned during the softball game were then almost immediately nullified by post-game wings and beer at the sponsor bar.

Outside of his company softball team, Brian’s “best friends” were Burger King, McDonald’s, Taco Bell and any other fast food chain that had a drive-thru window. He was eating this junk food 3-4 times per day and consuming in excess of 4500 calories and 200 grams of fat every day. Keller’s weight ballooned to 358 pounds and he knew things had to change. “It’s pretty safe to say that I was killing myself. Thankfully, my eyes were opened to the destruction I was inflicting upon myself at the end of 2008 and it was time to change.”

Brian decided to quit his job — a tough decision in such a poor economy — and leave Florida to move to Virginia Beach to be near his supportive family and “hit the rest button” on his life. “Leaving my job and friends behind in Florida was a difficult decision, but I really didn’t have a choice,” said Keller.

Shortly after settling down in Virginia Beach, Keller joined Coastal Fitness and hired Kevin O’Hara as his personal trainer. He also started attending Weight Watchers meetings on a weekly basis. He had lofty weight loss goals that could only be achieved by a complete overhaul of his diet and an intense exercise regimen. He worked extremely hard in the gym and turned his back on his old fast food friends. His exercise plan included two-a-days to burn calories and jumpstart his metabolism.

After 6 months of training and eating better, Brian has gone from 358 to 252 - a total weight loss of 106 pounds (his goal is to be at 215 or lighter). He’s lost a total of 62 inches from his body, 16 of them from his stomach. His cholesterol has dropped 56 points and his glucose has dropped 18 points. Also, his resting heart rate has gone from 80-85 bpm to 63-65 bpm. These changes have resulted in increased energy and stamina that allows him to work even harder in the gym.

Brian has been a member of Sportsvite for over two years and now has a new reason to use the website. “I initially signed up for Sportsvite to manage my corporate softball team. Since my relocation to Virginia Beach, I’ve begun to use it to search for teams, leagues and other players that are compatible to me. I can’t wait to find a softball team in the spring to incorporate team sports into my cross-training.”

He continues to train on a daily basis and watches what he eats very carefully. “I have to remind myself that they didn’t build Rome in a day,” he said. “And maintaining my weight will be as big of a challenge as it was to lose the weight initially. I’ve been blessed with a supportive family and friends and owe it to them to continue to work hard.” That’s very typical of Brian Keller - always putting others before himself.

Do you or someone you know have an intriguing story that we should share with the Sportsvite community? If the answer is yes, send an email to Nick B. and provide him with a summary and contact information.

Oct 23, 2009 by brian

Sportsvite’s Newest Teammate: The Nets

The Nets have always realized the value of connecting with local amateur adult basketball players in their community. Last season, the Nets organized a 3-on-3 basketball promotion that was played at the IZOD center. Coming up on November 8th, head coach Lawrence Frank will host a coaches clinic and instructional lecture at the Nets practice facility. Also, the Nets players actually purchased 600 season tickets to share with underprivileged youth groups and community organizations.

So as the 2009-10 season is about to begin, Sportsvite and the Nets are again figuring out how to work with the Nets to reach out to basketball players/fans in the tri-state area.

Let’s cut to the chase, this means we have FREE Nets tickets and special discount offers for Sportsvite members! The Nets have been generous enough to give us a pair of tickets for the first three home games of the season that we can pass along to you.

Enter the Contest!

Entering our contest for free tickets is pretty simple. All you need to do is create a new Sportsvite bulletin and post it on the Sportsvite Facebook Fan page. We’ll pick one random entry for each game from all of the submissions. Hurry, submissions will only be accepted until the deadline listed below for each game. Not on the Facebook bandwagon? You can still enter to win by sending your bulletin via email to Sportsvite team member Nick B at nick@sportsvite.com.

Nets vs. Magic — Friday, October 30 at 8:00
Deadline: 2pm ET on Wednesday, October 28
Vince Carter makes his return on Opening Night

Nets vs. Nuggets — Wednesday, November 4 at 7:30
Deadline: 12 midnight ET on Sunday, November 1
Chauncey, Melo and K-Mart visit the IZOD Center

Nets vs. Celtics — Saturday, November 7 at 7:30
Deadline: 5pm ET on Wednesday, November 4
Check out Boston’s Big 3

Discounted Tickets

You can still order select seats for the home opener against the defending Eastern Conference Champion Orlando Magic for 50% off the regular price. Plus, you’ll also receive 50% off hot dogs, candy and non-alcoholic beverages! Click here to learn more about the offer and to order your tickets.

Special Ticket Prices 50% OFF
$87.50 each (Regular price is $175, lower level)
$50 each (Regular price is $100, lower level)
$20 each (Regular price is $40, upper level)

How do I post a bulletin on Sportsvite?

Follow these six easy steps…

1. Log in to Sportsvite.
2. Visit the Bulletin Boards section on Sportsvite.com.
3. Click on the blue CREATE A POST button in the top right corner.
4. Select the Bulletin Board category from the list of six that best fits your request and click on it.
5. Fill in the fields for your post: Title, Date Needed (optional), Sport and Message.
6. Click the blue Create My Post button.