By Derek Emerson, Hope College Director of Public Affairs and Events
The national organization CoSIDA (Collegiate Sports Information Directors of America) is sponsoring SID Appreciation Week from November 7-13, so allow us to take a minute and thank Hope College Sports Information Director Alan Babbitt for all the work he does.
And, as the picture below shows, Alan is as much a team player as SID -- here he raised money and awareness with the football team for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
I love working with someone who has an unpredictable schedule and a great deal of work but keeps a positive attitude throughout it all. Hope College athletics, and Hope College, are better because of your involvement!
But, just what does a SID do? Yes, he puts together these summaries and gets them out to you daily on our website, social media and the email Hope Sports Report.
But the SID position encompasses so much more. How do our students win awards? Alan nominates them. How do we get coverage when volleyball is in one state, soccer in another, and there are still events at Hope? Alan finds the freelance writers and photographers (and sometimes even statisticians) and watches a lot of live video. If the game is at Hope, he is there overseeing a student staff and statisticians, making sure the media is set, coordinating announcers, handling photography, post-game interviews, writing summaries, and overseeing the social media. Those game-day programs? Alan takes care of them. Excited about that Thanksgiving weekend basketball tournament? Alan is working those. Christmas basketball tournament? Alan. Volleyball headed to playoffs? Baseball game rescheduled for rain? Spring sports teams headed to Florida for games? Alan. Alan. Alan.
You get the picture. Behind the scenes, Alan quickly pulls off a great deal of work. He does this with hundreds of student-athletes, coaches, athletic directors, and his own Public Affairs and Marketing division.
And, by the way, Alan is a normal person with a wife and two young children. He loves his family, but his weekends and evenings are often spent at games, so I'm pretty sure his wife and children deserve a special thank you as well.
Needless to say, we appreciate the incredible work that Alan does. That he does all this with a smile, a quick laugh, and a positive attitude -- well, that part I'm still trying to figure out.
