Looking Ahead

Thank You For Your Support

Short one for you all this week! As the fall season is now complete, our attention is now turned towards continuing to cultivate the alumni engagement and supporter base that has grown these past few months. It has been amazing to watch as people from across the country, and even overseas, rekindle their passion for these programs and give back to the community that left a mark on them.

Last night we hosted a call with the current and incoming team leadership from both our men’s and women’s teams to gather feedback and ensure our goals and visions were aligned going into the spring. The men’s current president, Caleb Persanis, said that his team as a whole has been blown away by the support shown by you all.

“Just incredible. This is the most help we’ve gotten from the alumni in all of my time here at New Paltz. It’s nice to know that there is a group of people that really care about us.”

Celina Nehme, the women’s club president, agreed and added that the publicity has been a boon for them as well.

“This is the most I’ve ever heard people talking about rugby on campus. We even had a reporter from the Oracle reach out to write an article because they read the newsletter.”

You can read that article here.

Needless to say, all of your support is making a difference. Our job now is to continue to strengthen the bond between our competitive programs and the wider New Paltz rugby community. One of the most important purposes of being connected with alumni at any university organization is professional networking. All of these student-athletes will be moving on from their time at New Paltz and beginning careers of their own. In the coming weeks we will be sharing information about the graduating seniors including what their areas of study are, field of work they would like to pursue, and the location they will be after graduating. Anyone reading this is seriously encouraged to consider connecting with these students about their professional ambitions. We will be providing the infrastructure to do so easily, so stay tuned.

For anyone interested in taking a more active role in engaging with the rugby teams, or has any ideas about projects that should be undertaken, we are going to be hosting a virtual town hall during the first week of December. We’ll lay out our vision for moving forward, key areas of focus, and some goals for the spring season and beyond. Please hop on the call if that sounds interesting!

If you are an alum of the women’s team and are interested in getting involved to any degree, please respond to this email and let us know. We would like to have more representation and engagement with the women’s alumni overall!

Lastly, a big shoutout to Joe Judge (‘08) for putting together an off-season strength and conditioning program for both of the teams this winter. Joe was a three year captain at New Paltz, played the highest level of the game in our country after college, and played for the illustrious Randwick Rugby Club in Sydney, Australia. He knows what he’s talking about.

Alumni Meetup This Saturday!
Come to The Liberty and watch some rugby! Join us to watch England vs. South Africa at 12:40 pm and New Zealand vs. France at 3:10 pm. The pub is located in midtown Manhattan just a few blocks from Grand Central Station. Connect with current players, alumni, and supporters. It’s a fantastic networking opportunity and a great way to strengthen the New Paltz rugby community. We hope to see you there!

Go Hawks!