Strolling down the boardwalk at MAACness
CORRECTION: In an Oct. 8 article, The Rider News incorrectly spelled the name of Rider’s Women’s Basketball Head Coach Jackie Hartzell. The Rider News deeply regrets this error.
By Teagan Rotella and Sofia Santiago
THE cranberry red and bright white lights permeated the parking lot behind the Alumni Gym as colorful smoke emerged from both sides of the stage. As each basketball player crossed the stage filled with adrenaline, their teammates and the crowd cheered them on in anticipation for the upcoming season.
On Oct. 3, the annual MAACness event commemorated not only Rider’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, but other organizations as well. The boardwalk-themed celebration brought many Rider students together, some for the first time.
As a freshman guard, this marked psychology major Alena Cofield’s first MAACness event with the women’s basketball team. Cofield highlighted the electric atmosphere and the chance to “spend time with the team and the coaches.”
Leslie Perez, a senior elementary education major and captain of the Rider cheer team, emphasized her excitement for the new members of the team as this was their “first appearance with [them].”
The cheer team performed multiple times throughout the night, pulling off choreographed dances with lifts and stunts. The team wore shirts with mermaid-inspired designs of the Rider “R” as a nod to the event’s boardwalk and beach theme.
Tables surrounding the edges of the parking lot offered countless boardwalk-themed food options such as funnel cake fries, root beer floats and a popcorn bar.
The tables also featured student clubs: Green Team, Future Business Leaders of America, Student Government Association, Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Incorporated and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated.
Each table had a game or decorations centered around the boardwalk theme. Rider students had the opportunity to win prizes courtesy of the student organizations and the multiple tables run by the Rider Athletics Department, the organizers of the event.
Rider’s Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Karin Torchia, has run the event annually since 2000. She mentioned MAACness has been typically held inside the Alumni Gym, but they could not last year due to scheduling conflicts. Despite this, last year’s outdoor event was a huge success, convincing Torchia to hold MAACness in the parking lot again this year.
While there were speakers playing music over the course of the event, Rider’s Pep Band performed multiple times hyping up the crowd. Junior elementary education major and Rider Pep Band President Skye Chernobilsky expressed excitement about the newer members’ debut at MAACness, saying “It’s really cool seeing how hype everyone gets, especially the newbies. It’s nice because this is their first event, and we’re kind of throwing them in the deep end … it’s cool to see how everyone adapts [for MAACness].”
When it was time for the basketball players to appear onstage, the speakers returned to playing music. One by one, Rider’s women’s and men’s basketball teams walked out to a different song, some of their choosing, as the emcee announced their player number, position and gave a brief biography of them.
This year did not only mark many student’s first time participating, but it was also Rider Women’s Basketball Head Coach Jackie Hartzell’s first time experiencing MAACness.
Hartcell shared her thoughts, “The energy was great. It was really exciting. I’ve never been a part of anything like this, so this is really cool, and I know our players really like this too.”
