Pensacola Beach will be 'athletic village' during NCAA Fall Festival
BY LISA NEWELL Gulf Breeze News lisa@gulfbreezenews.com

Berg

NCAA officials joined leaders from University of West Florida and the Pensacola Sports Association to announce plans for the first-ever NCAA Fall Festival, attracting more than 800 Division II student athletes to Pensacola and Pensacola Beach November 15-19.

The Fall Festival gives athletes the opportunity to compete for a national title and interact with fellow student athletes in a new venue or city, said Dr. Bernard Franklin, senior vice president of the NCAA.

While athletes compete in men's field hockey, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer and women's volleyball championships at three different venues in Pensacola, they will stay in an "Olympic village" of sorts on Pensacola Beach.

Opening and closing ceremonies are planned for the fall festival, and light social events are planned in the early evenings so the athletes will be well rested for competition.

The NCAA successfully hosted a spring festival in Orlando two years ago and began considering Pensacola about that time. A site visit was scheduled for September 15, 2004 but was canceled due to the arrival of Hurricane Ivan. Still, NCAA officials remained committed to having the Fall Festival in Pensacola.

Cavanaugh

"Despite Hurricane Ivan and the challenges it presented, the

Berg NCAA stuck by our plans. They toured area beaches and saw pools full of sand, hotels empty and hotels full of workers, but they never wavered," Ray Palmer, executive director of the Pensacola Sports Association, said.

Soccer championships will be played at Brosnaham Park, as will field hockey. Volleyball will be played at University of West Florida, and Cross Country will occur at the Equestrian Center in Pensacola.

Richard Berg, UWF Athletic Director, said UWF has successfully hosted both tennis and softball championships and is glad to have the opportunity to host the Fall Festival, despite the logistics required to schedule events for six national division 11 championships over four days.

"The key is to make them as pleasant and exciting for student athletes as possible," Berg said, adding that most key positions are filled except for one: the weather man.

"If it's Jim Cantore, we don't want him," Berg joked. Cantore is one of the Weather Channel's meteorologists who go on location during a hurricane.

Cessna

Sharon Cessna, NCAA Director of Championships, said Pensacola was always at the top of the NCAA's wish list to host the Fall Festival, which will recur every four years.

"Pensacola was originally one of the finalists because of the infrastructure, the staffing in the athletic department, the community ... it was a recipe for success for the first fall festival ... hopefully we're going to help put you on the map."

UWF President John Cavanaugh said hosting the Fall Festival is a "proud and happy day for UWF."

"It gives us an opportunity to show off a little bit," Cavanaugh said. "We can talk about it for four years and build on our experience. We have the opportunity to set the standard."

Franklin