Garvey Young’s sports site takes first prize in business plan competition

 

 

Dean O’Connor, right, presents Garvey Young with first place for “Draftspot,” a web-based business for high school athletes and college recruiters.

Garvey Young will graduate this spring with a MBA from Quinnipiac University, and among the things he’ll be taking with him when he moves back to Washington, D.C. is a very promising business.

Young, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2012, won the $5,000 first prize in the Quinnipiac University School of Business‘ Business Plan Competition on April 12. He has been working since last spring on Draftspot, which he describes as “a social branding platform that introduces athletes and coaches through digital media.”

Young plans to start Draftspot, now in a pre-launch phase, next year, but before that happens he’s got a busy summer ahead, including volunteering as a teacher in Ghana and playing in Europe for the FIBA International Basketball Federation. Young played basketball for two years at the University of Vermont, and then became a big scorer the last two seasons with the Quinnipiac Bobcats.

Young, who plans to raise $100,000 to start the business, believes he will benefit from the first-mover advantage and make Draftspot profitable within three years. He credits Quinnipiac with getting him ready to switch from scholar-athlete to entrepreneur. “It’s great preparation and an intense curriculum,” he said. “I’m definitely prepared.”

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President John L. Lahey congratulates men’s ice hockey team

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Our men’s ice hockey team smiles with the Cleary Cup on Feb. 16

TO: Members of the Quinnipiac University Community
FROM: John L. Lahey

Please join me in extending the heartiest congratulations to the 2013 Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team, the first Quinnipiac team ever to participate in the NCAA Frozen Four national championship.

We all take great pride in the team’s accomplishments, knowing that so much hard work, discipline and sacrifice have gone into this season. This extraordinary group of student-athletes is guided by a talented coaching staff led by Rand Pecknold. He has steadily built this program over the course of his tenure at Quinnipiac. We also deeply appreciate the dedication of our athletic administration, particularly Athletic Director Jack McDonald.

Bobcat pride is evident at every turn. Game watches, both on campus and across the country, have energized our Quinnipiac community.

We are grateful for the enormous fan support that has been displayed during the regular and post-season.

Boston Globe: Quinnipiac hockey a sleeping giant no more

Our men’s ice hockey team smiles with the Cleary Cup on Feb. 16

The Boston Globe followed the impressive growth of the Quinnipiac University men’s ice hockey team from a Division II program playing home games in a small rink miles away from campus to being the No. 1 ranked team in Division I college hockey hosting games in the $60 million TD Bank Sports Center, a 185,000-square-foot complex that sits atop our York Hill Campus, and preparing to skate into the Frozen Four.

• Get updates throughout the Frozen Four from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

“Nestled at the foot of Sleeping Giant State Park, Quinnipiac University is an institution that once could be described as a sleepy little commuter school, with an enrollment of 1,900 students. But it slumbers no more. Quinnipiac is a giant that has been awakened,” the April 9 article states. “Thanks to its Frozen Four men’s team, which entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, Quinnipiac appears to have been rebranded as a hockey school.”

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Wall Street Journal highlights our men’s ice hockey team’s success in a story headlined, ‘How to be a hockey hotbed’

Our men’s ice hockey team smiles with the Cleary Cup on Feb. 16

The Wall Street Journal chronicled the remarkable growth of Quinnipiac University‘s men’s ice hockey team in an April 7 story headlined, “How to be a hockey hotbed.”

It followed Coach Rand Pecknold‘s career at the university, beginning when he arrived in 1994, at which point he had to share an office and phone with the school’s other part-time coaches and hold midnight practice sessions at the Hamden town rink to the present day when he has his own arena at the TD Bank Sports Center and is at the top of Division I hockey rankings.

The story also offered a glimpse at the team’s rivalry with the Yale Bulldogs. The two teams may face each other in the Frozen Four Championship.

“Sometimes the best of friends are the best of rivals,” Athletics and Recreation Director Jack McDonald told the Wall Street Journal.

The first call the program received after being accepted into ECAC Hockey in 2005 was from Yale, McDonald said. The Bobcats also played several home games at Yale before the current sports center was completed in 2007.

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Coach’s efforts to remember Sandy Hook victims featured in N.Y. Times blog

The New York Times highlighted Quinnipiac University‘s head women’s soccer coach’s efforts to remember and honor the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School in a recent blog post.

Dave Clarke is working to keep the victims’ memories alive by auctioning 113 soccer jerseys autographed by the top players and teams from around the world. The money collected will be used to seed a scholarship fund.

“I had no idea how big that was going to be,” Clarke told the Times. “It’s been nonstop, but in a good way. I’m like a kid on Christmas going to the post office every morning, but it’s important to temper that excitement because the reason for the auction is not a happy one. Sandy Hook was something that tugged at the heartstrings of the world. We want to keep the victims’ names alive.”

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