@rohanwalia14[/author_info] [/author]
EWING – “The shot was blocked by #9.”
“That can be recorded as a yellow card on #17.”
“That was the sixth save made by the goalkeeper.”
These could be just considered normal phrases for an average fan to say at a sporting event, but for Lyle Fulton, TCNJ’s Assistant Sports Information Director, it is his job to tell his student staff to report these facts to the TCNJ athletic website.
“You have to be prepared and keep close eye on attention to detail,” said Fulton while watching the TCNJ women’s soccer team in their home game against Stockton University this past Wednesday. “We’re responsible for keeping track of the scoring at games, the historical aspects, keeping coaches records, and maintaining the TCNJ website.”
Arriving at The College of New Jersey in 2005, Fulton has overseen the collection of informational statistics for sports at the college. From football to cross country, Fulton and his team of around 10 students will attend every game and record information based on what happens at the event and the statistics to keep track of how the teams performed.
Before coming to TCNJ, Fulton worked as a director at Oswego State, in Oswego, New York. While at Oswego, Fulton did not enjoy working as a director and was not as happy with Oswego’s lack of NCAA events.
“I am more of a guy who likes the hands-on, game day stuff, not the meetings,” Fulton said. “TCNJ also had a successful record with their sports programs. My first fall here at TCNJ had a lot more events than Oswego.”
For Fulton, this will be his first year since coming to TCNJ where he will be the only one in charge of collecting information and statistics.
“When I arrived in 2005, Ann King was the sports information director and then Mark Gola came in,” Fulton said as we watched the TCNJ women’s soccer team from the press box. “Gola primarily worked on sports such as football while I did women’s soccer. At the end of last year, Gola was moved to director of athletic communications and I was left as the only sports information director.”
Some people would say that for Fulton, being the only sports information director is a very hard job.
“You have to know many sports and the rules in those sports,” he said of his position, “Before every game, no matter the sport, you need to have the game sheets and line-ups ready cause you never know what could go wrong during a game. You need to be prepared to deal with any problem.”
Dealing with change, according to Fulton, is a major aspect of doing the job well.
“While not much has changed in how we operate, technology since I’ve arrived has skyrocketed,” Fulton said. “The school did not have a specialized athletic website when I arrived and now we do and it’s very dynamic.”
Fulton also explained how social media impacts his job:
“Social media, things like twitter, Facebook, add to the things we have to do,” he said. “People want their information now and we have to [provide] that. However, the tough part is not that, but not having the time to sit down and be able to learn how to use things.”
Despite this, certain things have not changed dramatically, and won’t change for years to come, according to Fulton, like the DAW System – the coding system that allows him to enter stats and teams for statistical purposes.
“Basketball and Football were the first to use it but now it’s used for almost every sport,” Fulton said.
Fulton, however, is not in this alone,
“It’s tough but we do have [10] students who manage to help us a lot,” he said
Many of the students who Fulton has at his disposal are returnees from the previous year, with only one student graduating and leaving in 2014, and this gives Fulton great belief in that he is doing his job correctly and that the program is fun and productive for students.
“The students from last year were able to come back and they wanted to come back,” said Fulton. “This makes us believe that we are doing everything right. This in turn makes it easier to record information from games.
The fun for Fulton revolves around things such as traveling around the country and even an ice-cream event he takes his students to at the end of every year.
“Since starting this job I have traveled everywhere around the country,” Fulton said. “I have been to Florida, Texas, California, and even upper-Michigan in mid-March. Also, at the end of the year, after testing the students on the information we collected during the season, we all go out for ice-cream in celebration.”
Now in his position for 10 years since coming to The College of New Jersey, Fulton does not have plans to leave it anytime soon.
“I just want to continue on,” he said, “do what I do till maybe retirement. I’m content with where I am. I share a good relationship with the department and coaches who I have worked with for a long time.
“There is great stability here at TCNJ, we have only had two directors of sports information over the last 20 years, and that makes the job easier, as well as having a successful athletic program and unless my wife wants to leave and go back to New York, I am here to stay.”
After yet another night of collecting statistics and information, it was quite clear the dedication that Fulton gives to his job is as lively and tireless as when he first began 10 years ago.