By MIKE MONTALTO
It’s no secret that the Internet has revolutionized the way that we follow sports. Dedicated fans who can’t watch a game for any number of reasons can follow their favorite team from mobile apps or the team’s Web site.
Ramapoathletics.com is set up to offer similar coverage of a professional sports team’s website.
This on-demand availability of sports content has reached beyond professional leagues, to make local sports more prominent. Dedicated fans now follow their favorite high school and college teams through the Internet as well as they follow professional sports on television.
“I think you are seeing more and more websites adapt to the model of professional leagues and update scores as games progress,” said Matt Bellurado, coach of the Ramapo College roller hockey team. “It makes following a college team as easy as following any major league team.”
Bellurado says that in the event that he cannot make one of his team’s games, he can follow along with the game as it happens on ecrha.net. The site updates scores while games are in progress and has detailed team and individual player statistics.
The coach said that he also uses the statistical information on the site to get a feel for his opponents before game time.
Ecrha.net offers statistical information and up to the minute scores for all teams in the Eastern Colligate Roller Hockey Association.
“The site helps me prepare before a game because there is always a source with information on the other team. I never go into a game blind,” Bellurado said. “For example, if the team has a player who scores multiple goals a game, I know beforehand and can come up with a defensive strategy.”
Coaches aren’t the only sports enthusiasts who can use the Internet to keep up on local college or high school sports.
Sara Pendleton, a Ramapo College senior and former member of the women’s volleyball team said that her parents used the website ramapoathletics.com to keep track of their daughters team when they couldn’t attend games.
Ramapoathletics.com also has a version for mobile device users, like many professional sports websites.
Ramapoathletics.com does more than just simply report scores and stats, but also publishes post game recaps that offer textual information on the game, similar to the way that professional sports team websites do.
“My parents thought it was really cool to be able to see how I was doing even if they couldn’t be at a game,” Pendleton said. “Because of my dad’s work, he couldn’t make many games so he got a kick out of following them on his cell phone.”
Ramapoathletics.com also offers biographical information on players on all of Ramapo’s NCAA sports teams. It also features coach biographies to allow the users to learn a little more about the team and to fully immerse themselves in the die-hard fan experience.
The rise of interactive and constantly updating local sports websites coincides with the prominence of hyper local news sites, like Patch.com.
As the demand for community news rose along with a platform for distributing hyper local content, the Internet, it was only natural that more immediate news coverage of local sports would follow suit.
Ramapoathletics.com also features player and coach biographies.
“A few years ago, when I was in high school, before there was so much local content on the Internet, my parents had no way of knowing how a game went until I got home and told them,” Pendleton said. “Last year, when I played for the school, I would see them and they couldn’t wait to tell me about the game I had just played in.”