Dear Eagle Nation,
Welcome to the first installment of my monthly newsletter:A.D.'s Corner. I hope to provide our student-athletes, staff, alumni and fans news and updates about University of Mary Washington Athletics.
Last year was very successful in the classroom, in the community, and on the competition venues. We should all be extremely proud of our talented and dedicated student-athletes and staff who continue to represent UMW so well highlighted by our 3rd straight year of above a 3.0 GPA, hundreds of hours of community service, and improvements in both the CAC and Learfield Director's Cup all-sports standings. As we always say, we don't play at Mary Washington, we play for Mary Washington.
After gathering input and feedback from student-athletes and staff, the Department of Athletics unveiled The Eagle Way at our Welcome Night on August 30. The Eagle Way is our guiding principle and serves as our roadmap at the University of Mary Washington and beyond. It is an exceptional and inclusive experience supported by our pillars of commitment, grit, integrity and passion. We look forward to learning and growing together through The Eagle Way.
This Saturday, September 23rd, we celebrate the 5th annual Eagle Nation Day, a fun-filled community event at the Battleground Athletic Complex. Along with our community partners, we welcome Fredericksburg-area families to our facilities to interact with our student-athletes, enjoy games, prizes, and giveaways, and strengthen the bond between the Fredericksburg community and it's hometown team. Look for details at umweagles.com and I hope you'll join us for this outstanding event.
Mark your calendars for Homecoming 2017 on October 21! For the 4th year, the Battleground will be the place to be, with Eagle teams in action all day and the biggest party in town right in the middle of it. We're proud to sponsor Homecoming tailgating and encourage all Eagles to join us on October 21 for food, fellowship, and cheering the Eagles on to victory!
We're very excited to launch our newest varsity sport, women's golf, this fall. We have a great team of pioneering student-athletes and can't wait for their first tee shot on October 1! Our women's team joins our men, who came out of the gate last year with a 2nd place CAC finish in their very first year!
All of our teams are off to solid starts, headlined by our nationally ranked field hockeyprogram at 5-1 and on a five-game winning streak where they've outscored theiropponents 29-3! Nationally ranked men's soccer is 4-1-1 and on a three-game winning streak of their own. All of our fall teams begin CAC play in the next couple of weeks.
What are great class we will be inducting into our Athletics Hall of Fame: Debbie Bruen (women's basketball), Kevin Foeman (baseball), Dale Parker (men's swimming), and the 2006-07 women's basketball team truly epitomize the best in UMW Athletics. We hope you'll join us as we honor our inductees on Hall of Fame Day, February 3, 2018.
For the past several months, our department has been engaged in thoughtful discussion and planning in the area of diversity and inclusion. We embrace this opportunity to serve as leaders and to create a model program that will set a positive example for UMW and NCAA Division III. As the front porch of UMW, we have a special opportunity to lift people up and bring them together.
We will be taking our act on the road this year, with events planned in conjunction withAlumni Relations in Richmond on November 9, Virginia Beach on February 8, and Alexandria on April 5. Be on the lookout for details and we hope you'll join alumni, staff, parents, friends, and maybe even a few student-athletes to hear about all of the exciting things going on with UMW and Eagle Athletics. Register at alumni.umw.edu.
As I begin my sixth year as the Director of Athletics at the University of Mary Washington, I'm honored to be part of such an outstanding team and grateful for the tremendous support from our many alumni, parents and friends. We truly could not do it without you.
Thanks for taking time to read this newsletter and feel free to provide any feedback you have. Until next time, it's a great day to be an Eagle!
Ken