Click for printable fact sheet
Avery Point is the only UConn regional campus that provides its students with opportunities to participate in intercollegiate sports. Students can choose to participate in baseball, men’s basketball or women’s basketball. All three teams compete against teams in the NJCAA Region 21.
The UConn Avery Point (UCAP) Baseball program has established itself as one of the tops in the nation since its inception. To date, the Pointers have registered seven College World Series appearances, 14 NJCAA Division II New England Championships, seven East District Championships and finished as the national runner-up in 2010. Once their short careers at Avery Point come to a close, many players continue on to play at the collegiate and professional levels, a tribute to our exceptional coaching staff. Twenty-seven UCAP players have gone on to play professional baseball, including three alums who played for MLB teams – Rajai Davis, Pete Walker and John McDonald. Entering the 2022 season, the Pointers have two alums coaching in the majors – Walker, who has served as the Toronto Blue Jays pitching coach since 2012, and Ryan Fuller, the co–hitting coach for the Baltimore Orioles. Davis also serves MLB as its Senior Director of On-Field Operations.
The men’s and women’s basketball programs have enjoyed success as well. The women’s basketball team qualified for the NJCAA National Tournament and won the Region XXI Championship in both 2018 and 2019. The 2018 team finished third in the nation, while the 2019 squad placed seventh. The Pointers also reached the Region XXI finals in 2020. The men’s basketball program finished with a 16-14 record in 2020 and qualified for the semifinals of the Region XXI Tournament.
UConn Avery Point’s Waterfront Program was created in 2005 and is designed to provide recreational, instructional, academic and competitive on-the-water programming to the UConn Avery Point community that complements the marine and maritime focus of this coastal regional campus. This is done through four primary means utilizing the recently expanded watercraft fleet of seven 420 sailing dinghies, 12 FJ sailing dinghies, four kayaks, 9 hybrid sit-on-top kayaks and stand-up paddle boards, and a 16-foot safety powerboat.
The UConn Avery Point Sailing Club runs programming throughout the course of the entire calendar year. With two or three meeting times each week, there are ample opportunities for UConn Avery Point students, staff, faculty and alumni to venture out on the waters of the Thames River and Fishers Island Sound in sailing dinghies and kayaks. All Avery Point students, faculty and staff are welcome to participate, regardless of experience or ability levels.
Prescott Littlefield, our Waterfront Program Director, has nearly 35 years of experience as a sailing instructor and sailing program manager. He has worked at numerous yacht clubs on Long Island Sound and Fishers Island Sound, at the Mystic Seaport Museum, and coached the Williams School Sailing Team.
His boating experience includes rowing, dinghy sailing, keelboat sailing, windsurfing, ice boating, and power boat operation. He has an undergraduate degree in American and Asian History from Bates College, and a graduate degree in Marine Affairs with a coastal zone management specialization from the University of Rhode Island. He is a United States Sailing Association-certified small boat sailing, small boat racing, and powerboat instructor, with a State of Connecticut Safe Boating Certificate and American Red Cross First Aid and CPR certifications.
For information regarding Avery Point’s intercollegiate sports programs, contact our Athletic Department:
Athletic Director –Travis Beausoleil, Avery Point alum class of 07, Athletics Hall of Fame Inductee 2018
Executive assistant – Sarah Bongo (860) 405-9183, Sarah.Bongo@uconn.edu
Assistant to the Athletic Director -- Ashley Holdridge ashley.holdridge@uconn.edu
