General 10/12/2006 12:00:00 AM

Patriot League Fall SAAC Retreat A Success

Oct. 12, 2006

The 2006 Patriot League Fall Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) retreat was held in Baltimore, Md., Saturday, Oct. 7-Sunday, Oct.8. Representatives from each of the Patriot League's eight institutions attended the retreat to discuss sportsmanship and other various hot topics in college athletics, review NCAA proposed legislation and share ideas from their respective campus SAAC.

The fall meeting marked the first time the Patriot League has hosted the SAAC meeting at a destination location. In addition to the meeting time, the student-athletes enjoyed a dinner cruise on the Chesapeake Bay and a tour of the National Aquarium located in the Inner Harbor.

"Our Athletic Directors recognize the importance of establishing a meaningful and productive conference student-athlete advisory committee and were instrumental in making the destination location retreat a reality this year," Patriot League Associate Executive Director Joanna Kreps said. "Their vision was to create an exciting atmosphere that leaders of their campus student-athlete community would want to be a part of, and I am pleased with the success of our first destination retreat."

Discussions during the retreat were both meaningful and informative as the student-athletes focused on defining risky behavior, hazing and sportsmanship and sought to identify possible solutions in areas such as misuse of online communities (i.e. MySpace, Facebook) and alcohol related game management techniques. The group's discussion on sportsmanship was especially productive as the group brainstormed possible ideas for a League-wide campaign to promote good sportsmanship.

The representatives also benefited from the campus update portion of the meeting in which ideas for community service projects and best practice policies for SAAC meeting attendance and fan generation plans were shared.

The weekend retreat presented the first opportunity for the Patriot League to formally introduce Kerry Kenny as the Patriot League representative to the NCAA Division I SAAC. Kenny, a men's basketball player from Lafayette, assumed his role on the National SAAC this past summer and led the discussion on proposed NCAA legislation.

Those in attendance were American's Michelle Risinger and Christina Wright, Army's Doug Pelletier and Lindsey Gerheim, Bucknell's Matt Bonelli and Lauren Bricker, Colgate's Devon Clifford and Macrina Seals, Holy Cross' Kaitlin Foley and Rory Ogden, Lafayette's Shannon Fisher, Kerry, and Amanda Lalley, Lehigh's Betsy Balaguer and Greg Horn and Navy's Jacqui Charnigo and Alex James.