Eastern Nazarene College Athletic Affiliations

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is the organization through which the nation's colleges and universities speak and act on athletics matters at the national level. It is a voluntary association of more than 1,200 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals devoted to the sound administration of intercollegiate athletics.

Through the NCAA, member colleges consider any athletics problem that has crossed regional or conference lines and has become national in character. The Association strives to maintain intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the educational program and the athlete as an integral part of the student body. The NCAA also stands for good conduct in intercollegiate athletics and serves as the colleges' national athletics accrediting agency. The NCAA has grown dramatically in the past 40 years, with more than 600 new members since 1950.

The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC)

The Commonwealth Coast Conference is a NCAA Division III conference that was established in 1984. The CCC consists of 10 schools located in New England. The conference headquarters in located in Springfield, Mass.

The institutions that make up the Commonwealth Coast Conference are Curry College (Milton, Mass.), Eastern Nazarene College (Quincy, MA), Endicott College (Beverly, Mass.), Gordon College (Wenham, Mass.), Nichols College (Dudley, Mass.), Roger Williams University (Bristol, R.I.), Salve Regina University (Newport, R.I.), University of New England (Biddeford, Maine), Wentworth Institute of Technology (Boston, Mass.), and Western New England University (Springfield, Mass.).

The Commonwealth Coast Conference conducts championships in men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball, and men’s and women’s lacrosse. Playoff champions receive the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament each year.

National College Athlete Honor Society

Eastern Nazarene College became the 10th college or university in Massachusetts to be accepted as a member of the Alpha Chapter of the National College Athlete Honor Society, Chi Alpha Sigma.

The NCAHS recognizes students who receive a varsity letter in their sport while maintaining a 3.4 or higher cumulative GPA by completing five or more semesters. Besides being based on outstanding scholarship, the athlete must earn an athletic letter and be recommended for excellent character and citizenship. The mission of the NCAHS is to bring honor and recognition to deserving student-athletes, their families, teams, athletic departments and college in much the same way as Phi Beta Kappa honors academic achievement. The governing board of the NCAHS represents all levels of competition in the NCAA and NAIA.

Graduating seniors who are members of Chi Alpha Sigma are presented with a National Honor Society medallion to be worn at graduation. Red and white cords are worn at graduation to acknowledge and recognize the accomplishment of all graduating athletes.