{"id":28111,"date":"2018-11-26T20:13:39","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T01:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2018\/11\/27\/newsports\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:27:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:27:21","slug":"newsports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/","title":{"rendered":"NECC Announces Athletic Program Expansion; Three New Programs for 2019-20"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Northern Essex Community College is pleased to announce the addition of three new varsity athletic programs for the 2019-20 academic year. Both the men\u2019s soccer and women\u2019s basketball teams will return to the college, while NECC will have a varsity eSports program for the first time.<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s soccer and women\u2019s basketball will compete in NJCAA Region XXI<\/a>, becoming the 10th men\u2019s soccer playing institution and \u00a0the 12th women\u2019s basketball program within the region. The eSports program will join the National Association of Collegiate Esports<\/a> (NACE) as it serves as the governing body for esports at the collegiate level and for all NJCAA members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited about bringing both men\u2019s soccer and women\u2019s basketball back to the college. The addition of eSports will open up an entire world of college athletics for gamers here at NECC. We look forward to competing at a high level and allowing more students to succeed both academically and athletically while they pursue their degrees,\u201d said NECC\u2019s Director of Athletics Dan Blair.<\/p>\n

NECC last fielded a soccer program in the mid 1990\u2019s, while the women\u2019s basketball program previously has won two NJCAA Region XXI Championships in 1994 and 2001.<\/p>\n

Esports is a multi-player video game program that competes with college and universities throughout the country. All are online multi-player games and student-athletes will compete as a team to defeat opposing institutions. The growing eSports industry is a multi-million business with companies developing, testing and publishing games.<\/p>\n

With the addition of the golf program for the 2018-2019 academic year and growth across all of NECC\u2019s other athletic programs, the college has nearly doubled its student-athlete population since the start of the 2016-17 academic year from 43 to 90 athletes.<\/p>\n

Coaching searches for the soccer and basketball programs will commence immediately. NECC alum and nationally ranked Fortnite gamer RJ Warnock will lead the eSports program as its first coach.\u00a0 Warnock of North Reading played baseball for Northern Essex before transferring in 2013.<\/p>\n

Those interested in any of the new programs can complete an NECC Athletic Recruiting Form online at NECC Athletic Recruitment Form<\/a><\/p>\n

Northern Essex Community College competes as a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and sponsors nine varsity intercollegiate sports including baseball, men’s basketball, golf, softball, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s cross country and men’s and women’s track and field. For more information on Northern Essex Community College Athletics please visit the official website of Northern Essex Athletics (www.neccknights.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Northern Essex Community College is pleased to announce the addition of three new varsity athletic programs for the 2019-20 academic year. Both the men\u2019s soccer and women\u2019s basketball teams will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNECC Announces Athletic Program Expansion; Three New Programs for 2019-20 - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NECC Announces Athletic Program Expansion; Three New Programs for 2019-20 - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Northern Essex Community College is pleased to announce the addition of three new varsity athletic programs for the 2019-20 academic year. Both the men\u2019s soccer and women\u2019s basketball teams will […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-27T01:13:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-14T20:27:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ernie Greenslade\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ernie Greenslade\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/\",\"name\":\"NECC Announces Athletic Program Expansion; Three New Programs for 2019-20 - NECC News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-27T01:13:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-14T20:27:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6a4640513b41a61d0435b6972d4577c9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"NECC Announces Athletic Program Expansion; Three New Programs for 2019-20\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"name\":\"NECC News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6a4640513b41a61d0435b6972d4577c9\",\"name\":\"Ernie Greenslade\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75ae84652c63c20fe24eb5858c280eb011192a5104499880542d7f8dfd6ef2c9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75ae84652c63c20fe24eb5858c280eb011192a5104499880542d7f8dfd6ef2c9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ernie Greenslade\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/egreenslade\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NECC Announces Athletic Program Expansion; Three New Programs for 2019-20 - NECC News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NECC Announces Athletic Program Expansion; Three New Programs for 2019-20 - NECC News","og_description":"Northern Essex Community College is pleased to announce the addition of three new varsity athletic programs for the 2019-20 academic year. Both the men\u2019s soccer and women\u2019s basketball teams will […]","og_url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/","og_site_name":"NECC News","article_published_time":"2018-11-27T01:13:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-14T20:27:21+00:00","author":"Ernie Greenslade","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ernie Greenslade","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/","name":"NECC Announces Athletic Program Expansion; Three New Programs for 2019-20 - NECC News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-11-27T01:13:39+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-14T20:27:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6a4640513b41a61d0435b6972d4577c9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/26\/newsports\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NECC Announces Athletic Program Expansion; Three New Programs for 2019-20"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"NECC News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6a4640513b41a61d0435b6972d4577c9","name":"Ernie Greenslade","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75ae84652c63c20fe24eb5858c280eb011192a5104499880542d7f8dfd6ef2c9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/75ae84652c63c20fe24eb5858c280eb011192a5104499880542d7f8dfd6ef2c9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ernie Greenslade"},"url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/egreenslade\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28112,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28111\/revisions\/28112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}