Northern Essex coach’s long love affair with sport continues

Nelson Desilvestre has now been the head coach for the Northern Essex track and field team for three years and has coached athletes to  reach the national competition at the end of each track season.  Desilvestre also coaches for the Manchester Essex indoor track team when he’s not coaching the Knights.  He also has a big history in competing in track and field ever since he was only eight years old.  His first meet ever was when he was in third grade at the YMCA, competing for Prospect Elementary School of Beverly, Massachusetts. He has competed for a total of 17 years. Desilvestre has broken a total of four records in his high school, three are team relays and the last one is an individual record.

His relay team of the four by four have a record of 3 minutes and 25 seconds, the four by two for indoor track with a time of 1 minute and 33 seconds, the sprint medley with a time of three minutes and 39 seconds, and his individual record for the triple jump with a distance of 45 feet and 9 inches.  His last four years of competing track were at the University of Maine at the Division 1 level. He’s had a love for this sport for so long that he wanted to become a coach. “I wanted to give back to the sport that helped me get through high school” Desilvestre stated.

His three favorite things about coaching is building relationship with the athletes and getting to know them personally, watching them improve in every race that they do, and see the expressions on their faces when they do something they never thought they could do such as getting a new personal record. “Out of all my favorite memories of coaching for track and field, I would say my favorite memory was when Manchester Essex won the conference championship,” Desilvestre says, “because seeing everyone so happy was an amazing feeling to me as a coach and watching them improve and seeing their hard work pay off.”

Looking to join track next year? Contact head coach Nelson Desilvestre at ndesilvestre@necc.mass.edu or at 978-556-3826.  For more information and results from track & field and other sports, visit neccknights.com or follow the official Instagram sports page @neccknights. For more information on how to compete for the knights in other sports, contact Dan Blair, the director of athletics at dblair@necc.mass.edu, or Jeff Mejia, the assistant director of athletics at jmejia@necc.mass.edu or Maureen Saliba, the other assistant director of athletics at msaliba@necc.mass.edu.

Track and Field athlete placed 6th in high jump last year

Katelyn Richardson, a 23-year-old from Wilmington, Massachusetts, is at NECC for her certificate in American Sign Language interpretation. She is part of the track and field program at Northern Essex is hoping to head back to the NJCAA Division 3 national competition in Utica, New York on Saturday, May 11, 2019. Richardson has had experience in competing in college athletics before joining the Knights. She went to James Madison University located in Harrisonburg, Virginia and competed in both the cross country and track club teams.  She got her bachelor’s from JMU in sports medicine and also minored in biology. Last year, Richardson broke the school record for the women’s high jump with the height of 4’7 ¾” and is hoping to set an even better record for the same event. Richardson started her running career in the seventh-grade due to the influence of her middle school gym teacher, Mr.Meacker. “I did my first track meet in seventh grade because of my gym teacher,” Richardson stated, “He had high jump in his gym classes and he thought I would be good at it.” She also met someone who inspired her to keep going.“

Dick Fosbury is the man who revolutionized high jump and who I was coached by in the summer at his camp and I coached with him over the summers.” Richardson worked with a famous person in the track and field world. Would you also be star struck to work with someone who is considered a celebrity in the world of your favorite sport?  At last year’s national competition, Richardson came in sixth place for the high jump and claimed an All-American title for placing in the top eight.  She is hoping to go back the second year in a row for the same event and place even higher.

“I expect to go back to Nationals again,” Richardson says, “I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to jump again because of my back injury I got in July 2018. I’m hoping to jump five feet. I’m excited to be with this team as whole.” Will Katie Richardson go back to Nationals again and break her own personal best from last year?  Check out neccknights.com or the knights official Instagram page @neccknights to follow up on updates that will include Richardson, her other track and field teammates, other sports and their schedules to see where each team will be traveling.  For more information about athletics, contact head director of athletics Dan Blair at dblair@necc.mass.edu, the assistant of athletics Jeff Mejia at jmejia@necc.mass.edu, or the second assistant director of athletics Maureen Saliba at msaliba@necc.edu.

Future students introduced to NECC

On Feb. 19, 2019, Northern Essex hosted  its very first athletic open house for the incoming freshmen who are looking to come and play for the NECC Knights.  The night was run by Dan Blair who is the director or athletics, and Jeff Mejia who is the assistant director of athletics.  Blair talked about the upcoming sports this coming fall, the sports that they already offer, and what the requirements are if they want to participate in those sports. There was a video project that featured four athletes so that they could give the upcoming freshmen a perspective on what it’s like to compete for the NECC knights.

The video featured Kyle Hawes who plays baseball for the knights.  The video also featured Hawes’s dad who talked about how much money they saved in 2 years just by coming here. About a total of 20 kids showed up that were interested in athletic.  Most of them were boys that were interested in baseball. After the open house was held, students were allowed to go tour the whole campus and come watch the men’s last home basketball game. Blair stated that the meeting was held during Massachusetts’s February vacation so that kids from Massachusetts schools could come without school interfering.

“The main goal for the night was to have possible upcoming athletes get an overview what the athletic life is like here,” says Blair.  “The main focus was to have them talk to the coaches and see if what the season would be like if they played that sport.  “We also wanted to bring the students to campus so they could start admissions early and what else the athletic department offers. The door is always open for students that are interested.”

The main goal for the night was to have possible upcoming athletes get an overview of what the athletic life is like here.
– Athletics Director Dan Blair

Blair also stated that there is a possible chance for another athletic open house but the dates are undetermined as of right now.  The sports that are offered here for men are cross country, track & field, basketball, baseball, and golf. For women sports, there’s cross country, track & field, softball, volleyball, and golf.  As a reminder, NECC is adding men’s soccer, women’s basketball, and esports in Fall 2019.

For any full time, students interested in sports, contact head of athletics Dan Blair at dbalir@necc.masss.edu, assistant of athletics Jeff Mejia at jmejia@necc.edu, or another assistant of athletics Maureen Saliba at msaliba@necc.mass.edu.

Students, staff looking forward to new teams

Northern Essex Community College has officially announced the arrival of three new sports coming Fall of 2019 (Men’s Soccer, Women’s Basketball and Esports) which makes it a total of seven different sports for both men and women. Other sports include men and women’s cross country, men and women’s track and field, men’s baseball, women’s softball, men’s basketball and men and women’s golf. So, you could say that the athletics program keeps growing and growing each year and there is the opportunity for students to participate in a wide variety of sports.

According to a Athletic Department flier, ever since 2010, the Knights have received 10 NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) Championships, two athletes from the track and field program have received National Championship titles, and the men’s baseball team have made six appearances including National Runners-up in the 2016 season.But it wouldn’t be possible without the athletic program team which includes Dan Blair,

who is the Director of Athletics.

Blair thinks that keeping the athletic program here at Northern Essex alive is just as important as expanding it. Blair also pointed out other benefits that student athletes gain while competing for the Knights. “The athletic program also helps student athletes compete at the college level before moving on to four year schools and even competing at the Division 1 level” Blair says.

Throughout the years, Blair has been seeing more improvements as well as people taking the sports here more seriously. “NECC athletes don’t just get the opportunity to play sports, but they improvements in their GPA and scholarship money for when the transfer to 4 year colleges or universities” Blair says. Every coach and member who is a  part of the NECC athletic program take this very seriously to help the athletes in the future.

If you’re looking to compete for the NECC Knights, the door is always open to everyone that wants to join any team. You don’t even need past experience in any sports to compete for NECC. For more information, visit www.neccknights.com , visit the new official Instagram page at neccknights, and contact Dan Blair at dblair@necc.mass.edu or at 978-556-3820.