Check out the video that highlights a fund-raising project underway to secure donations that will allow Bates to install an artificial surface, lights, new grandstands, a new press box, etc. at Garcelon Field, the College's football facility:

http://vimeo.com/8532774

Winter Letter

Time, time, time, see what's become of me
While I looked around
For my possibilities
I was so hard to please
But look around, leaves are brown

And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Hazy Shade of Winter - Simon And Garfunkel

Dear Students, Faculty, Staff & Friends,

Happy New Year! Winter is most certainly upon us with more than a hazy shade and any brown leaves that might have been left are now well-covered with snow. What’s more, if you add the music to these Simon and Garfunkel lyrics and listen beyond the first verse to the entire song, you will get an even more foreboding sense of the gloominess of winter. Additionally, the song uses the passing of the seasons to evoke equally unsettling notions of fleeting time, of lost opportunities and of dreams unfulfilled.

So why present this somewhat sober outlook at the commencement of the New Year and the next semester? Because the Bates sports scene, as timeless as a winning shot at the buzzer and with an abundance of opportunities and dreams yet to fulfill, provides the perfect antidote to these harsh realities of the Maine winter! Women’s and Men’s Basketball playing high-energy hoops in the toasty confines of Alumni Gymnasium; Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving creating waves in the equally temperate setting of Tarbell Pool; Women’s and Men’s Track blazing around the recently refurbished Walter Slovenski Indoor oval; Men’s and Women’s Squash’s frenetic play raising the temperature in the Squash Building; even the outdoor sports of Women’s and Men’s Nordic and Alpine Skiing generating fieriness with the speed and power of their performances! Such are the many opportunities available to offset the chills and blahs of the next few months while also contributing to the collegiality that is generated from the shared experience of supporting our Bates student-athletes.

The spirit and drive of the approximately 270 young women and men who comprise the aforementioned winter sport teams certainly merit that support. These students are most serious about their academic pursuits and strive to excel in the classroom. However, they are also extraordinarily passionate about their chosen sport and seek to distinguish themselves athletically while propelling their teams to success. They do not receive any material reward for the efforts that they put forth in pursuit of this athletic distinction. Rather, they realize their dividends in the self-confidence and sense of achievement attained from the overall participatory experience; in the lifelong friendships formed with teammates; and in the character transformation forged by the application to their endeavors of courage, sacrifice, endurance, self-discipline and mental toughness. That transformation, overlain on their academic odyssey, provides the ultimate return for these students as they become fully prepared for life after Bates.

The knowledge that the campus community recognizes and values the efforts of Bates’ student-athletes in both the classroom and their sport program is reinforced by your attendance at their events. Attached is a schedule of the winter sport contests and I know that they will be most appreciative of any events that you can make. For the contests that you can’t attend, please check the updates and details on the web site: http://www.bates.edu/sports.xml.

Thank you and best wishes for the New Year,

Kevin