学生, Fans Celebrate Move to NCAA

Whether they are gung-ho college basketball, 棒球或排球爱好者, 欧文康考迪亚大学 students welcome moving up to the big league – National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II.

“It’s cool to be part of a school that’s in a legit tournament,本·海特说, a senior who’s majoring in sports management. “这是非常有声望的. It’s even better for resumes to be part of a prestigious school that’s a Division II athletic program, especially since I’m trying to enter the world of sports as a career.”

Watching CUI’s soccer teams score last-minute goals or volleyball team win their conference this past year, 有一种很棒的“是的”感觉, that’s my school’ that goes along with it. -Jonathan Ilten, 欧文康考迪亚大学 sophomore

海特, 一个死忠篮球迷, started playing basketball when was young and said he has followed it passionately at all levels ever since. “I’ve been basically born and raised to love basketball,他说.

海特 is a basketball coach at Orange Lutheran High School. He’s also a personal trainer for high school basketball players.

When he’s not involved with basketball, 海特 works with the CUI softball staff keeping the scoreboard and game stats for online reporting.

欧文康考迪亚大学 sophomore Troy Makalena was attracted to 欧文康考迪亚大学 because of its sports management program and because it is a small school, 与大型校园相比. He likes having smaller class sizes and more one-on-one time with his professors.

然而, 作为NCAA二级学校, Makalena said people will begin to see 欧文康考迪亚大学 as a small school with big athletic programs.

“作为一所小型大学, 它给了我们更多的名字, and people will see we’re not just a small school, but that we have better athletic programs,他说, 添加, “and that helps with recruiting and drawing more students to our university.”

Makalena, who played volleyball in high school in Honolulu, is a big volleyball fan. He said NCAA D II membership will be especially good for CUI’s men’s volleyball team.

这对我们来说很好. 这对宣传有好处, 展示我们美丽的校园, and letting 肯考迪娅’s brand be known as a school that has good athletics but even better spirit and better character. -Ben 海特, 欧文康考迪亚大学 senior

“We have a small men’s volleyball team, so it will be really good for our men’s volleyball. They’ll get to play top name volleyball teams,” Makalena said.

Jonathan Ilten agreed playing under the Blue Dot will bring 欧文康考迪亚大学 more publicity and attention. 当之无愧的关注, 说Ilten, a sophomore majoring in business administration with an emphasis in sports management, 辅修通讯.

“这所学校是一个不可思议的地方, 但在我们的校园之外, 在奥兰治县, 甚至在尔湾市, you’ll find people who aren’t familiar with CUI. 这么小的学校, we’re not necessarily a ‘household name’ or have the general recognition that schools like UCI or Cal State Fullerton have,他说. “转到D II, 然而, and seeing articles written about us in the LA Times and ESPN covering our conference’s basketball tournament on our campus, more and more people are becoming familiar with 欧文康考迪亚大学 and what we’re all about.”

Ilten said he is pleased to see 欧文康考迪亚大学 get the recognition it deserves.

“This is important to me because I love this school, and I want to see it succeed and grow as much as possible in all aspects, be it athletics or arts or academics or so on. The increased success and increased public exposure of 肯考迪娅’s athletic programs mean success and exposure for the university as a whole,他说.

我是一个大学体育迷. His dad introduced him to “March Madness” when he was about 6 years old, and he’s been hooked on men’s basketball ever since. He’s gained an even greater appreciation for college sports since being 在欧文的康考迪亚大学.

“The best part about college sports is the emotion and passion involved, 无论是球员还是球迷. The athletes are either competing in order to compete professionally one day, or competing because they still can compete in the sports that they love. 无论哪种方式, the result is the athletes pouring their hearts and souls into their game and not being satisfied with anything less than success.

“从球迷的角度来看, especially fans who attended the university they root for, t在这里 is an incredible amount of pride that comes along with seeing your school’s teams succeed. This is something I never fully understood until I became a college student myself.”