FOSH ARRIAGA CONFERENCE & NCAA POSTSEASON SIMULATION
BOSTON, Mass. — The FOSH is harnessing the power of the ARRIAGA Rankings to simulate the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women’s water polo postseason and help raise money for the American Red Cross and The Greater Boston Food Bank. ARRIAGA will crunch the numbers and produce results for each conference tournament and use those results and previous rankings to set the field of nine NCAA Championship teams. At the national tournament, ARRIAGA will kick it up a notch and produce complete results.
When the NCAA season came to an end in an effort to stem the global spread of COVID-19, The FOSH team wanted to find a way to help its community and provide some entertainment to fans of water polo. To that end, the FOSH is launching the 2020 NCAA Championship ARRIAGA Simulation to support two charities doing important work.
The FOSH is leveraging GoFundMe Charity to raise money for The American Red Cross and The Greater Boston Food Bank. If fans enjoy and appreciate the 2020 NCAA Championship ARRIAGA Simulation, please consider donating to either or both charities. As the world copes with COVID-19, it is important to make sure that the most needy among us receive help and support during this difficult period.
Conference Championships
- Golden Coast Conference – Release Date: March 18, 2020
- Big West Conference – Release Date: March 19, 2020
- Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) – Release Date: March 20, 2020
- Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) – Release Date: March 23, 2020
- Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) – Release Date: March 24, 2020
- Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) – Release Date: March 25, 2020
- Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC)^ – Release Date: March 26, 2020
^ The SCIAC champion is named during the regular season. ARRIAGA will declare a champion based on regular season ranking.
NCAA Championship
- Bracket Announcement – Release Date: March 27, 2020
- Opening Round – Release Date: March 30, 2020
- Quarterfinals – Release Date: March 31, 2020
- Semifinals – Release Date: April 1, 2020
- Championship – Release Date: April 2, 2020
About the American Red Cross (CLICK HERE TO DONATE)
The American Red Cross now faces a severe blood shortage due to an unprecedented number of blood drive cancellations in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Healthy individuals are needed now to donate to help patients counting on lifesaving blood.
Individuals can schedule an appointment to give blood with the American Red Cross by visiting RedCrossBlood.org, using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, calling 1-800-RED-CROSS or activating the Blood Scheduling Skill for Amazon Alexa.
As the coronavirus pandemic has grown here in the U.S., blood drive cancellations have grown at an alarming rate. To date, nearly, 2,700 Red Cross blood drives have been canceled across the country due to concerns about congregating at workplaces, college campuses and schools amidst the coronavirus outbreak. These cancellations have resulted in some 86,000 fewer blood donations. More than 80 percent of the blood the Red Cross collects comes from drives held at these locations.
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission.
About The Greater Boston Food Bank (CLICK HERE TO DONATE)
The coronavirus poses an even bigger health threat to our community’s most vulnerable populations — low-income individuals and senior citizens.
GBFB is committed to assuring that we continue to distribute food to our partner agencies and through our direct service programs, especially those that impact individuals at high risk.
Through the compassion and commitment of our supporters, staff, partners and volunteers, The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) takes a bold, innovative and multi-pronged approach to achieve our mission to end hunger here. GBFB is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England and among the largest food banks in the country. Last year, we distributed 68.5 million pounds of nutritious food to people who struggle to have enough to eat. We are committed to increasing our food distribution to provide three meals a day to every person in need in Eastern Massachusetts while supporting healthy lives and healthy communities. Our progress toward this goal is documented by town on our interactive map.
The Greater Boston Food Bank is a member of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization. Through compassion and action, together we can create a hunger free Eastern Massachusetts.
About FOSH Stats
A Boston-based company, The Full-On Sports Hub, ushered in a new era for water polo sports information for the 2014 NCAA men’s season with the launch of The FOSH for Water Polo and has continued to be a leader in the field of web-based statistics. The company was seeking to put an end to the late night phone calls from coaches, the tedium of hours spent transferring numbers from paper scoresheets into Excel and fans’ lack of access to statistics.
Billed as a digital alternative to pen-and-paper statistics tracking, The FOSH for Water Polo provides a platform for inputting game events as they happen and publishing them in real-time via it’s FOSH Live feature. The platform also allows school’s to provide online box scores, individual and team statistical reports, and on-demand national, conference and tournament leaderboards.
Former University of Michigan Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations Ryan Sosin, a four-time Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Western Division Sports Information Director (SID) of the Year, and David Danese, a three-year letterwinner as a member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) men’s soccer team, conceived of the platform as classmates at the Boston University Graduate School of Management.
Drawing on his experience from covering other sports, Sosin devised of a platform that would provide an intuitive method of collecting and tracking statistics for collegiate water polo, and thus address the sport’s need for a state-of-the-art method for recording and disseminating game data. Born from this initial concept, the product began to take shape in late 2012. As part of a class project, Sosin and Danese developed a detailed product concept and business plan and conducted preliminary research suggesting that collegiate SIDs were eager for a product that could usher statistical tracking for water polo into the digital age.
Inspired by the positive response, Sosin and Danese set out to build a platform that would represent a major step forward for statistical tracking in collegiate water polo. Their efforts gave rise to a preliminary version of The FOSH, with a notable new feature – the ability to stream live game statistics to internet users, so that fans could follow the action in real-time.
Fans of the sport relished the opportunity to follow NCAA action live online from locations across the globe, with viewers checking in from Hungary, Brazil, Japan, Canada and New Zealand, in addition to the United States. Because of it’s Web-based design, The FOSH allowed fans to follow the action from their desktop to their mobile phones and tablets without missing a play.
The FOSH for Water Polo launched for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) institutions prior to the 2014 NCAA Men’s season with collegiate club, youth club and high school access available as well. More information on the product is available at https://www.thefosh.net.
