News

Cape Cod, Mass. - On Thursday, March 19, the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce will welcome the Senegal Sports Exchange Delegation to Cape Cod. The delegation traveled to the United States as part of the YES with Africa (Youth Education and Sports) program at UMass Boston. The program is a multiethnic, coeducational, sports and leadership development program administered in conjunction with the Department of Africana Studies at UMass Boston and is currently based in the West African countries of Senegal and Benin.

"I was invited to speak about athletic governing bodies last Friday at UMass Boston by their athletic director Charlie Titus," said ECAC Commissioner Rudy Keeling. "After interacting with the group and having an amazing time, I thought it would be great to invite them down to the Cape to see how our organization functions. We have been working with Patti Lloyd at the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce to put together a day to showcase all that Cape Cod has to offer."

After touring the ECAC and meeting the staff, Commissioner Keeling and Associate Commissioner Dea Shipps will travel with the group to the Chatham Bars Inn for lunch. They'll have an opportunity to see Chatham Light and then proceed to West Dennis to view the Light House Inn. The delegation will return to the Hyannis area to see the John F. Kennedy Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Cape Cod Baseball Museum, the John F. Kennedy Museum, and the Zion Union Heritage Museum which celebrates African American, Cape Verdean, and other diverse populations on Cape Cod.    

The Senegal Sports Exchange Delegation consists of Racky Ba Kane, Jocelyne-Wifred Balin, Fidel Coly, Patrick De Souza, Marieme Faye, and Ousseynou Ndiaga Diop, the coach of the Senegalese women's national team in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Their tour of the United States runs from March 1 - March 22.

About the ECAC®
The ECAC is the nation's largest athletic and the only multi-divisional conference in the country with 319 Division I, II, and III colleges and universities. The ECAC stretches from Maine to North Carolina and westerly to Illinois. Established in 1938, the ECAC, a non-profit service organization, sponsors more than 100 championships in 37 men's and women's sports and assigns more than 4,400 officials in 12 sports. The ECAC also administers nine affiliate sports organizations and six playing leagues. Through the public relations arm of the conference, more than 2,500 student-athletes in 23 sports are recognized. Finally, the ECAC serves as the primary conference for select members in the sports of men's ice hockey, women's ice hockey, and men's lacrosse.