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On Saturday and Sunday, October 23 and 24, the men’s and women’s rowing teams competed in the Head of the Charles Regatta (HOCR) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The annual HOCR is the largest rowing regatta in the world, drawing over 11,000 competitors.
After winning the Division III national championship in the 2019-2020 season, the women’s rugby team aims to continue its success through the last stretch of the regular season by continuing to split up their major goals into smaller, more immediately achievable parts.
This semester, the athletic department has engaged in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) education workshops with the Institute for Sport and Social Justice (ISSJ), a Florida-based educational company that couples a passion for athletics with a commitment to social justice.
Following the change in the College’s COVID-19 status level from Yellow to Green, Ashmead White Director of Athletics Tim Ryan announced in an email to all athletes a loosening of masking restrictions for athletes and coaches during indoor athletic events.
As the clock struck zero at Whittier Field this past Saturday, fans rushed from their seats and stormed the field to celebrate the football team’s first win since the fall of 2018. Although they were labeled as the underdogs against their New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) rival Amherst College, the Polar Bears led from start to finish, defeating the Mammoths by a score of 21-14.
Women’s lacrosse will see a familiar face on its coaching staff as it prepares for its 2022 season. On September 29, the Athletic Department announced that Kara Finnerty ’20 has been hired as an assistant coach for the team.
As the leaves in Brunswick begin to change colors, Bowdoin’s winter sports teams set their sights on the season ahead. After a two-year hiatus from uninterrupted winter competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bowdoin’s athletes, coaches, administrators and fans are ready for winter sports to return to the College.
Following a forced 18-month hiatus from competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the women’s soccer team returned to the pitch this semester, much to the thrill of the players, coaches and fans alike. Members of the team were excited to return to a competitive environment that encourages them to work together.
FALL-ING INTO WINTER SPORTS Following two weeks of informal, pre-season practices and training camps, winter sports teams will begin official practices with their coaches and full rosters today. Winter sports teams have not enjoyed a full, uninterrupted season of training and competition since the winter of 2018-2019.
On Saturday, September 26, the men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in their first home meet since the fall of 2019. The Polar Bears hosted the Bowdoin Invitational, recording both individual and team victories against Emmanuel College, Endicott College and Saint Joseph’s College.
Editor’s Note 10/1/21 at 11:08 a.m.: This article has been updated to reflect the correct author. On Saturday, September 25, the football team returned to Whittier Field for its first home game of the season, taking on Trinity College.
WOMEN’S TENNIS PREPARES TO CAUSE A RACKET This weekend, the women’s tennis team will host the Division III New England International Tennis Association (ITA) tournament at the Pickard Tennis Courts. This event marks the first competition of the season for the women’s team and the team’s first time playing in a tournament since the fall of 2019.
This past weekend, the men’s tennis team came back strong at the Division III International Tennis Association (ITA) tournament after two years without formal competition. For the first time in two decades, Bowdoin hosted the tournament, which gave the majority of the team its first chance to compete in collegiate-level matches.
TENNIS TEAM HOPES TO SERVE UP FIRST WIN OF SEASON This weekend, the men’s tennis team will host the men’s Interscholastic Tennis Association (ITA) regional championship at the College for the first time in over two decades.
Following a quiet 18 months, women’s volleyball made a striking comeback in its first home game of the season against Wesleyan University last Friday, defeating the Cardinals 3-1. Despite some adjustments due to COVID-19 protocols, the team was ecstatic to return to Morrell Gymnasium with an eventful comeback.
Following an 18-month pause of social and athletic activity on campus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the athletic department has noted an increase in the number of spectators at sporting events in comparison to past academic years as the College’s full student body inhabits the campus for the first time since February 2020.
In its second game of the season, the women’s rugby team dominated Colby-Sawyer by a score of 79-0 on September 17. The Polar Bears are the 2019 defending national champions, but with only two games under their belt and a team that hasn’t competed in-season in over a year, the Polar Bears are focusing on the small achievements.
History can be rewritten, as the men’s soccer team proved last weekend. On Saturday, the unranked Polar Bears defeated the second-ranked team in Division III, Amherst College, by a score of 1-0. Led by a thrilling header from Charles Ward ’22, the Polar Bears beat Amherst in a men’s soccer competition for the first time in 13 years.
After winning 494 games—more than all other coaches in Bowdoin men’s basketball history combined—former men’s basketball Head Coach Tim Gilbride retired at the end of the 2020-2021 academic year after a 35 year career. To fill the void left by Gilbride, Alex Lloyd became the eighth head coach in the team’s history.
ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT PREPARES FOR INDOOR HOME COMPETITION The College will be hosting its first indoor athletic events of the fall season this weekend as the volleyball team faces Wesleyan College today and Connecticut College tomorrow. The players will be allowed to use their discretion to decide whether they want to wear masks during the game or not, but most of them will likely err on the side of caution and keep the masks on.
The women’s soccer team brought energy and enthusiasm back to Farley Field for their first New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) game in 18 months. Coming off an 11-0 victory over the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF), the Polar Bears came up short against Amherst College, losing 3-0 on Saturday, September 11.
As a significant number of COVID-19 cases have emerged on campus in the past few weeks, the scope of health and safety procedures looks very different from the start of the semester. However, despite the additional safety measures across campus, the Athletic Department has stuck to their previously outlined protocols, relying mostly on campus status levels and guidance from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
After over ten years of partnering with Orthopedic Associates (OA) in Brunswick, the athletic department announced in an email on Monday that a new, on-campus physical therapy (PT) clinic serving all students is now open on the second floor of Farley Field House.
To quote Thin Lizzy’s hit song, the [Bears] are back in town. The successes of the College’s women’s basketball team are formidable: the team has posted a winning overall record since the 1990s, leads the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) in championship victories and has been in the finals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III championship in the last two completed tournaments.
Partnering with the Institute for Sport and Social Justice (ISSJ)—a social justice and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) education company based in Florida—the athletic department has created a roadmap of mandatory DEI training for coaches. “It’s a six-step program that works its way up to the final step, which is action.
MEN’S SOCCER KICKS OFF SEASON In their first game of the season and the College’s first fall athletic competition, the men’s soccer team defeated the University of New England (UNE) by a score of 3-0. Drake Byrd ’21 netted two goals, and Minseo Bae ’22 added the third.
On May 3, Eva Dowd ’22 posted a one-question poll to her Instagram story: ‘If you’re a woman, would you be interested in a club soccer team at Bowdoin?’ The response was overwhelming—with over 60 interested students and a host of alumni expressing their support, Dowd felt empowered to try and kickstart a team.
Supported by a campus community that boasts a vaccination rate of 99% and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Bowdoin’s athletic department is preparing to return to an unabbreviated schedule of competition for the first time since the fall of 2019.
RETURN TO BUSY COMPETITION SCHEDULE After an 18-month halt to athletic competition due to COVID-19 restrictions and protocols from the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the College will return to a jam-packed schedule beginning next week.
Just over a month ago, Emilie Grand’Pierre ’23, boasting citizenship in both the United States and Haiti, represented her home country of Haiti at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. She competed in the 100-meter breaststroke, winning her heat with a time of one minute and 14.82 seconds.
Unlike most Bowdoin students who are spending the summer with friends and family and making plans to watch the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan from the comfort of their homes, women’s swimmer and rising junior Emilie Grand’Pierre ’23 is training to compete at the Olympics.
After two years without competing on the gridiron, the Bowdoin football team will feature three new coaches alongside two new classes of players during their upcoming season. Mike Deitrick, Ahmaad Smith and Dave Aoyagi were hired earlier this month to coach running backs, cornerbacks and safeties, respectively.
Over the course of her 13-year career at Bowdoin, women’s basketball Head Coach Adrienne Shibles has impacted the lives of each of her athletes and brought the program to unprecedented heights. Under her leadership, the team appeared at the NCAA tournament 11 times and won two NESCAC championships, solidifying Shibles’ spot as Bowdoin’s winningest women’s basketball coach of all time.
Since the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police last June, athletes, coaches and administrators within the athletic department have been involved in increasing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in athletics through events, team-based DEI programs and a number of new committees.
Finding opportunities to play sanctioned team sports has been challenging this semester, but as the semester comes to close, intramural soccer playoffs are providing students opportunities to bring some competitive spirit. During the fall semester, Bowdoin was only able to offer one team intramural: badminton, a sport that allows for social distancing.
Despite uncertainty going into the semester, the softball team made the most of the abbreviated 2021 spring season. Although the team played only 12 games—compared to a usual 40 game season—with a small roster of 11 players, a focus on teamwork and enjoyment made it a season for all to remember.
Although Peter Moore ’23 races on the Nordic ski team at Bowdoin, his one true love is cycling—and in the past year, it’s taken him to France to compete for the AG2R Citroën U23 Cycling Team.
ATHLETICS FOR EVERYONE In a joint statement with the presidents of Colby and Bates, President Clayton Rose announced his strong opposition to two anti-transgender athlete bills currently working their way through the Maine Legislature. If passed, the bills would bar transgender women from playing in elementary, secondary and collegiate sports.
Welcome one and all to what is Well In, Lad’s final column of the semester. It’s been a long journey, but I’ve enjoyed myself plenty, so I hope all of you reading have, too. To wrap up the semester, I want to do a little reminiscing on the past and take a look at what the future of soccer might hold.
SHARPEN YOUR PENCILS At the third Bowdoin-Colby-Bates track and field meet this past weekend, two school records fell as the men’s and women’s teams closed out their non-scoring season. On the men’s side, Ajay Olson ’23 earned a new school record in the 100 meter dash (10.69 seconds), and he just barely missed the school’s 45-year-old 200 meter dash record (21.42 seconds) by 0.2 seconds.
Every September, collegiate athletic departments around the country are required by the U.S. Department of Education and the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) to report their athletic expenses and net revenues, as well as the demographics of their teams, for the previous academic year.
Following an 18-month hiatus from competition, the women’s soccer team hosted Bates on Sunday, May 2 for a scrimmage with no official box score. The 90-minute competition was played over three 30-minute periods as opposed to the typical two 45-minute periods in order to give players more rest and recovery time.
Welcome to Full Court Press, a Bowdoin sports podcast presented by the Bowdoin Orient. Paul Russo ’23 and Billy Ackerman ’23 host the show, interviewing Bowdoin athletes about their journey to Bowdoin, athletic careers and setbacks and what college sports look like under COVID-19.
Adrienne Shibles, Head Coach of the women’s basketball team, has accepted an offer to become head coach of the Dartmouth College women’s basketball team. Over 12 seasons, the Polar Bears’ record was 281-65, making the NCAA tournament 11 times.
After 18 months without competition, the current national champion women’s rugby team hosted Colby for an unofficial scrimmage on April 24. The scrimmage resembled a traditional match, the only significant difference being a shift from a two-halves format to a four-quarter model that gave players more opportunity for rest.
This past summer, Bowdoin athletics entered a partnership with the software company SIDEARM Sports. The company now powers the Bowdoin athletics website, allowing for seamless publishing of live and post-game stats and providing easier access to archival athletics data.
After serving as the Head Coach of the men’s basketball team for nearly four decades and earning a record-setting 494 wins, Tim Gilbride has announced that he will retire at the end of this academic year.
Editor’s note 05/02/2021 at 10:28 a.m.: A previous version of this article stated that the NESCAC formed in 1999. This article has been updated to reflect the fact that this was when Bowdoin joined the NESCAC, not when the NESCAC formed.
SWEPT OFF After the Polar Bears split their games last weekend, they were swept by Trinity this past weekend, losing 9-8 in the first game and 9-6 in the second game. Despite the losses, they did see some standout performances.
SPLITTER Softball played a double header against Tufts on Saturday and another double header against Colby on Sunday. The Polar Bears went 2-2, splitting both double headers. After winning in eight innings against Tufts by a score of 11-8, the team dropped the second Saturday game, losing 12-2.
This past Sunday, the very foundation on which European soccer has been laid for over 150 years was shaken to its core with a power move that would have given the game as we know it a complete overhaul.
For the first time in over a year, Bowdoin’s track and field teams put on their uniforms for a dual meet with Colby College last Sunday. Although the meet was smaller than usual, a few athletes achieved personal records, and almost all expressed gratitude to be competing again.
“There are a lot of ways to do track and field, and I like to think ours is a good way: for camaraderie, fun, education and good results. I do the best I can based on what I remember as an athlete and the feedback I get from Bowdoin students I trust,” Associate Director of Athletics for Facilities and Assistant Coach of track and field Lynn Ruddy once wrote in an email to her former athlete Louis Duffus-Artman ’07.
Through budget freezes and cuts, Bowdoin athletics remained a dominant force on campus during the 1990s. However, a social divide still existed on campus. Bowdoin athletics kicked off the decade with a bang. On September 28, 1990, “Football edges Middlebury” appeared in big bold letters in the Orient after a recent nail-biting win.
RESCHEDULED Rescheduling games that had been cancelled due to COVID-19, the athletic department announced that the softball team will play a double-header at Tufts on Saturday and a double-header against Colby at home on Sunday. These games were originally scheduled to be back-to-back home and away double-headers for the weekends of April 10 and 11 against Tufts and April 3 and 4 against Colby.
Following the announcement that Associate Director for Athletics and Assistant Coach Lynn Ruddy will retire at the end of the 2020-21 academic year, the athletic department shared that Assistant Football Coach Kevin Loney has been promoted to the position of assistant athletic director for facilities and event management, effective July 1.
Highlighting the work of women’s rugby Head Coach MaryBeth Mathews, the U.S. Women’s Rugby Foundation (USWRF) added Bowdoin’s women’s rugby team to their list of the 15 most influential programs in the nation this past March.
The softball team finally took the field for the first time in over a year this past weekend in a double-header against Amherst College after multiple game cancellations due to COVID-19 concerns. Despite some breakout performances, the Polar Bears lost both games with scores of 5-4 and 10-2, respectively.
After a month-long hiatus, I want to welcome back each and every one of you to Well-In, Lad. Luckily, for my content’s sake, we’re entering what many would consider the most exciting stretch of soccer this year.
Following the retirement of longtime men’s track and field Head Coach Peter Slovenski, the athletic department announced on March 31 that Lara-Jane (LJ) Que, Head Coach of the women’s track and field program, will be stepping into the role of Head Coach for the men’s program as well this June.
Women’s softball was set to open their season this past weekend with a three-game series against Colby. However, this series was cancelled suddenly on Friday afternoon. There is currently no plan in place to make up these games, and the team’s upcoming match-up against Trinity has also been cancelled.
ASSIST. AD KEVIN LONEY Earlier this week, the Athletic Department announced that Kevin Loney, an assistant coach for the football team since 2015, will be promoted to assistant director of athletics for facilities and event management in the fall of 2021.
For the first time in over a year, the men’s ice hockey team was able to play in an organized game together in a scrimmage against Colby. Although it may not have been the same as playing the Mules in a packed Watson Arena, the scrimmage offered a final chance for Bowdoin to show the progress they’ve made during this modified season.
Catching many athletes off guard, yet pleasantly surprised, President Clayton Rose announced in a campus-wide email on March 9 that the NESCAC has decided to conduct limited competition for spring sports. While many athletes and athletics staff members are excited for this opportunity, they know that competition is not guaranteed and is dependent on the rate of COVID-19 cases on Bowdoin’s campus and at other colleges.
On March 17, USA Basketball announced that Adrienne Shibles, head coach of Bowdoin women’s basketball, will serve as the 2021 head coach of the U16 National Team. Shibles will be responsible for developing the team throughout the year and will take a month off from Bowdoin women’s basketball to lead the national team in a tournament run by the Federal International Basketball Association (FIBA).
THE YEAR OF RETIREMENT A flurry of retirements have been announced in the past month, with three long-term members of the department announcing that they plan to step down from their roles at the end of this academic year.
Through the #NESCACares Mental Health Awareness Week campaign, the Bowdoin Student Athlete Advisory Committee (BSAAC) and the NESCAC Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) are changing the narrative on mental health in athletics. The Mental Health Awareness Week campaign has happened in previous years, but with the pandemic and a shortened semester presenting unique mental health challenges, the SAAC and BSAAC are hoping to play an especially important role with their programming this year.
Approximately one year since their last time practicing as a full group, Bowdoin softball continues to face challenges. Prolonged distance from campus has largely eliminated opportunities for competitive play and made it hard to sustain and create new social connections.
For many Bowdoin student-athletes, being a part of a team is a support system: a group that acts as a family. But exactly a year ago, that world froze as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted athletic competitions across the country and forced teammates apart.
In a letter to the Bowdoin community sent out last Tuesday, President Rose announced that Bowdoin would be participating in a limited number of athletic competitions this spring. The announcement came on the heels of a decision by the NESCAC presidents to allow individual schools to determine the extent of athletic competition in which they will participate.
BADMINTON Intramural Badminton starts up for the spring semester this week. A grand total of 23 teams have signed up to play. While there isn’t any time left to create teams, people interested in participating can be added to an existing team.
Last June, amidst the turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic, women’s lacrosse Head Coach Liz Grote was selected as the President of the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches’ Association (IWLCA). As President of the IWLCA, a nationwide organization that monitors the proceedings of all intercollegiate lacrosse and represents coaches from NCAA Divisions I, II and III, Grote found herself with newfound responsibility.
Midway through last month, reports began to circulate—and are expected to be confirmed in the coming months—that the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) was planning changes to its most renowned tournament, the UEFA Champions League (UCL).
Athletics at Bowdoin in the 1980s were full of both tradition and change. While many well-established Bowdoin sports teams continued to face other colleges in the area and bring back a mix of wins and losses, other teams were formed or dissolved over the decade as the College’s athletics department and athletes worked to comply with Title IX.
More impressed with their own team’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts than the Athletic Department’s, student athletes report general satisfaction with efforts to address DEI issues in athletics, according to a survey of Bowdoin student-athletes recently conducted by the Orient.
With a strong connection to college baseball, Maine Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and current Bowdoin Pitching Coach Jason Jensen brings his own unique experience in the sport to his coaching philosophy. In 1997, Jensen pitched two complete games to help the University of Southern Maine (USM) win the Division III World Series.
In a semester marked by social distancing and COVID-19 tests, Bowdoin’s swim and dive team has exchanged their usual caps and goggles for face masks. Yet even as they struggle to navigate a new reality of pool reservations, Zoom meetings and dryland workouts, Bowdoin’s swimmers and divers are doing what they can to make the most of this unusual semester.
FALL SPORTS? In an email to the Bowdoin community Thursday afternoon, President Clayton Rose announced that, as long as the NESCAC approves intercollegiate competition, “there will in all likelihood be a full athletic schedule in the fall.” However, he is not as confident about the probability of attendance at sporting events by local residents or family members.
Starting off as a local kid who just wanted to see the world, Dale Arnold ’79, P’07, found his hometown college, Bowdoin, to be his gateway into a fascinating career in sports broadcasting. Arnold’s journey from a neighborhood kid in Brunswick to a top-class sportscaster for the New England Sports Network (NESN) began by doing play-by-play for football games when he was just 15 years old.
For those of you who don’t know me personally, let me preface this article by telling you a little bit about myself as a soccer fan. In 2013, I became an Everton fan and developed my first true love affair with English football by watching my American hero Tim Howard in goal behind young, exciting stars like Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley tearing up opposing defenses.
On February 18, the Bowdoin Athletic Department released the first semesterly update to its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Action Plan. The document has two sections: one outlining what they’ve done since mid-October when the DEI Committee first released its plan, and a second on a future plans.
NCAA MIGHT WAIVE ROSTER MINIMUMS In an announcement on Wednesday, the Division III (DIII) Membership Committee recommended waiving the sports sponsorship requirement for spring sports. If approved by the DIII Administrative Committee, there will be no minimum number of rostered players required for teams to be sponsored.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has brought intercollegiate athletics to a grinding stop, the College’s move to “Yellow” status has allow students to use athletic facilities starting last Monday. In an email sent to the Bowdoin community on February 17 by Ashmead White Director of Athletics Tim Ryan, wrote students could use the Buck Center for Health and Fitness, Greason Pool and Lubin Squash Courts as long as the campus stays in “Yellow” status.
Getting on the leaderboard of Strava’s “Lap that Quad” segment is no easy task. However, for Angela McKenzie ’23, a member of the women’s cross country and track and field teams, Hibearnation period became the perfect opportunity to earn Strava’s “Local Legend” crown by running 14 laps around the Bowdoin quad.
As COVID-19 continues to rage, the Bowdoin crew team has maintained both team camaraderie and physical fitness throughout the year of social distancing. While some teams might lack self-motivation amidst the chaos of this past year, the crew team has had very few issues maintaining their athletes’ fitness.
This time last February, the Bowdoin’s women’s ice hockey team was closing out their season after a long winter of practices and games. But this year, the team has faced—and is still facing—a multitude of challenges, such as having players living all across the United States.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS Bowdoin’s athletic facilities will open on Monday as the campus entered “yellow” status this past Wednesday. However, the hours are scaled back, and the athletic department has implemented an array of safety precautions.
Before COVID-19, going for a meal, meeting the team and touring the athletics facilities were all big highlights of recruits’ visits to campus. But not anymore—visiting campus is, at least for now, prohibited, dining halls are closed and many teams are spread out across the country.
Juggling new teams, conference championships and a subpar decade for the football team, Bowdoin’s athletic department faced triumphs, changes and challenges throughout the 1970s. In 1971, the College’s Board of Trustees and the President at the time, Roger Howell Jr., officially ruled in favor of co-education and accepted Bowdoin’s first class of women.
After a virtual fall, an extended winter break and the cancellation of their season, most of Bowdoin’s men’s hockey team is back on campus and ready to get back on the ice. Bouncing back from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic’s impact on their season and the team’s social atmosphere, the team is excited to be reunited once again.
Outside the United States for the first time in almost a year, senior Renae Anderson’s experience in Finland has largely been confined to exploring her hotel room. But for a spot on the American Nordic skiing team at the U23 World Championships, sacrificing some sightseeing at the edge of the Arctic circle is more than worth it.
With winter break in the books, we’re back. But hold on. You’re probably wondering: where’s Paul, my favorite Orient columnist? Paul has made the bittersweet move to creating podcasts, which I will shamelessly plug and suggest you check out when they are released.
Varsity athletics for the winter season have already been canceled, but neither the NESCAC nor Bowdoin has made a final decision yet about the spring. The College has created specific times in the academic schedule for athletes to practice and compete.
Using TikToks shared on their Instagram story, Bowdoin’s Athletes of Color Coalition (AoCC) is celebrating Black History Month by highlighting different Black stories, broadcasting Black accomplishments and pointing out the propagation of Black stereotypes. “We wanted to focus on acknowledging people of color and Black people’s stories,” Angelina Mayers ’23, one of the AoCC’s social media coordinators, said in a Zoom interview with the Orient.
An estimated 10,000 spectators flocked to Whittier Field one Saturday afternoon in the fall of 1960 to witness what the Boston Globe referred to as the game of the week between Bowdoin and the University of Maine.
NESCAC CoSAoC Late last month, the NESCAC formed a Coalition of Student-Athletes of Color (CoSAoC) with representatives from all 11 member schools. The announcement describes their mission statement as trying to “encourage dialogue and solidarity around issues of race.” The coalition aims to work with all member schools’ athletic departments in their pursuit to support student-athletes of color, and they will encourage the diversification of athletic departments across the conference.
The Bowdoin Student Athlete Advisory Committee (BSAAC) and the Athletes of Color Coalition (AoCC) collected responses from over 450 student-athletes this past week in a survey emailed to all athletes about issues of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
From the snowy streets of Brunswick to the sunshine of the Bay Area, Matt Moran ’10 has found his journey to the Golden State, one not traveled by many. Once a key player on Bowdoin’s football team, Moran is the Special Teams coordinator at one of the biggest football programs in the country: Stanford University’s Pacific-12 Conference (Pac-12) powerhouse.
Instead of focusing on the cancellation of their season, the men’s basketball team has shifted to cultivating a sense of community between upperclassmen and first-year members. Inspired by the push for anti-racism in athletics, they have been hosting biweekly meetings that are dedicated to discussions on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Throughout the fall semester, Bowdoin athletics has been forced to “adjust and adapt” in response to the new challenges presented by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Despite grappling with geographically divided teams, a lack of competition and Zoom fatigue, athletes and coaches alike were pleasantly surprised by their teams’ ability to provide a meaningful and engaging athletic experience, but long for the return to an in-person season.
