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Storm Madness is Tuesday!
November 1, 2012
Keuka College's Storm Madness, an annual pep rally with prizes and competitions, is Tuesday night, Nov. 6 from 8:30 to 10 p.m. inside the Weed Physical Arts Center.
Members of Keuka College and the surrounding community will get a chance to meet the winter sports teams during the ninth annual Storm Madness, the preseason pep rally that is scheduled for an 8:30 p.m. start on Tuesday night, Nov. 6 inside the Weed Physical Arts Center.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams and their coaching staffs will be on hand for the pep rally, along with the new men’s volleyball team, which opens play this winter under head coach Ben Guiliano.
Storm Madness allows members of the campus community, as well as the surrounding area, to come together and support Keuka’s intercollegiate athletics teams and its student-athletes.
The event will feature basketball skills competitions, prize giveaways and performances from Keuka’s step team, dance team and cheer team.
There will also be a chicken wing and a Buffalo chicken-style pizza eating contest, a paper airplane toss, a musical chairs game and other spirit-raising competitions.
The event is exclusively planned out, coordinated and executed by members of Jeff Bray’s SPS 401 Sports Management class as part of their senior class projects. Bray serves as Keuka’s Head Athletic Trainer and also as Assistant Director of Athletics.
The winner of the paper airplane contest, which is open to anyone, will receive the night’s grand prize: a big electronics gift from Radio Shack, one of the event’s sponsors.
Among the other prizes being given away that night are two front row tickets to the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen on Aug. 2, t-shirts, water bottles and other assorted Keuka paraphernalia.
There will also be a 1-on-1 basketball game pitting men’s basketball coach Thad Phillips against women’s basketball coach Katie Marcella in a three-minute game. The referee will be Dave Sweet, the Storm’s current athletic director and former women’s basketball coach.
Admittance to the pep rally costs either $1 or a donation of non-perishable food items. All admission proceeds and food donations go to benefit Milly’s Pantry, a not-for-profit organization in nearby Penn Yan than has assisted thousands of families needing food.
Besides giving out assorted prizes to fans who flock to the Weed to support the basketball and men’s volleyball teams, Keuka’s fall sports teams will also be introduced during Storm Madness.
Last year, more than 400 people packed the Weed in support of Storm Madness, a one-of-a-kind spirit-building event, according to Bray.
“The students that design Storm Madness have an understanding of what their peers want and expect from an event, and rarely are the people planning the event the same target audience as those you’re trying to attract,” Bray said.
“The reason I think Storm Madness works is, it takes place in a very confined space and everyone is involved in the event. Students have a great opportunity to participate and between the competitions and the introductions of the sports teams, well over 150 of our students will participate. It’s one of the very few things outside of graduation where that many students participate, and it brings the faculty, staff and students together outside the classroom and outside the athletic arena for some school spirit.”
Among the sponsors of the event are Mark’s Pizzeria, Pepsi, Radio Shack, Chobani Yogurt and Home Necessities, among others.
After a five-year hiatus, Bray said Keuka is bringing back the Mark’s Pizzeria Pepsi-Cola Couch Club, where at every women’s and men’s basketball game this year, one fan and two friends will receive V.I.P. treatment during for the game, complete with a large pizza and a six-pack of soda. The selected fans will get to watch the action up close on a couch from Home Necessities, a furniture store in Penn Yan.
Keuka is selling neon green Storm Madness t-shirts with Uncle Sam and the iconic slogan, “I Want You” on the front, along with the stars and stripes on the back, with the shirts stressing the importance of voting during the day, and supporting the Storm at night.
These t-shirts are being sold for $10 and are available in the lounge area of the Dahlstrom during meals, from any of the 10 students in Bray’s sports management class, or at the Storm Madness event, provided t-shirts are still available.
A local Yates County charity will be the beneficiary of all monies raised from t-shirt sales.
For more information about Milly’s Pantry, or to offer assistance, visit www.millyspantry.org, email millyspantry@millyspantry.org or call (315) 694-7350.
