Not long ago, Goodwin College began its collegiate club sports programs with the goal of enabling interested athletes and student scholars to work as part of a team. And as that culture of academic responsibility and athletic cooperation continued to grow, Goodwin’s students found success on and off the court!
The journey of the Goodwin College Navigators basketball team is one of innocence and unexpected success in college sports, where regular students are recognized for excellence and college faculty and staff give of their time for the love of the game.
After a strong performance Saturday, March 12, against third-ranked University of Massachusetts Lowell, the Goodwin College Navigators basketball team was ranked 16th in the nation by the National Club Basketball Association (NCBBA).
Following Saturday’s split two-game series against UMass, 48 coaches voted for Goodwin as part of the 2016 NCBBA Week 19 Rawlings Top 15 Poll. After starting the season at Harvard with a pair of overtime losses, the Navigators won 10 of their last 11 conference games. They swept Skidmore and Sacred Heart in three-game series, Assumption in a two-game series, and then won against Harvard.
“When we started the season, we were looking thin. We just graduated the heart and soul of the program, Travis Samuels, and were in dire need of some leadership,” said Eric Emet, Goodwin’s Director of Athletics and Recreation. “The team is running on all cylinders right now, and is playing fearless basketball. I couldn’t be prouder of the way these young men have represented the Blue and Green of Goodwin.”
This success follows on the heels of Senior Captain Mike Hemingway’s personal courtside success. Hemingway was recently named the NCBBA New England Conference Player of the Week.
“Captain Mike Hemingway stepped up and has served as a mentor to the students both on and off the court,” Emet said.
Raheim Lowery, in his fourth year with the program, coaches the Navigators, and is assisted by Professor Phil Fox, who also serves as an academic coach/tutor for the students. Both coaches are helping to grow the team from a small club at the career-focused commuter school to a successful, winning roster that can compete on the national level. The team is comprised of Goodwin students, including ESL and SNAP students.
“We’re a couple of wins away from making the National Tournament in Pittsburgh next month,” Emet said, “but first we’ll need to travel up to Vermont and take care of business against the Catamounts next week.”
The Goodwin College Club Basketball Team plays in the New England Conference, with Harvard, Skidmore, Sacred Heart, University of Vermont, Assumption College, and UMass Lowell. The team practices and plays out of the Connecticut River Academy gymnasium, located on the north end of the Riverside Campus. The season starts in October and runs through March; with the culmination being the annual Staff v Student game. The team plays in three major tournaments, at American International College’s Turkey Invitational in November, at Boston University’s Northeast Regional Invitational in January, and at UMass Amherst’s Minuteman Tournament in March.
Goodwin University is a nonprofit institution of higher education and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), formerly known as the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Goodwin University was founded in 1999, with the goal of serving a diverse student population with career-focused degree programs that lead to strong employment outcomes.