Sinacola Named CCAC SID of the Year
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CHICAGO - Aimee Sinacola made quite the first impression as Indiana University South Bend's Sports Information Director in 2019-20. That was evident on Monday, July 20 when it was announced by the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) that the first-year communications director was named the league's Sports Information Director of the Year for 2019-20 by her peers.
Aimee gave our student-athletes the experience and exposure they deserve,
stated IUSB head baseball coach Doug Buysse. "Her selfless and tireless work increased the visibility of IU South Bend overall.
From her write-ups, to the team media days, to her social media presence and the team specific posters, Aimee's desire to tell the stories of our student-athletes was unmatched.
One area of improvement that Sinacola wanted to focus on upon her arrival in South Bend was the overall IUSB Titans brand on social media. She accomplished that goal by increasing the number of followers by over 1,000 with more engagements in less than one year. She also ran each individual IUSB sport social media account during each team's season.
Being creative, especially after the mid-March shutdown of all collegiate sports nationwide, was also key to keeping Indiana South Bend fans engaged. Sinacola met this challenge by initiating a TikTok Titans Challenge, an Apple Watch Face Wednesday, virtual Senior Day recognitions and student-athlete video cooking sessions.
“Creative, energetic and deeply committed to using her talents to support our student-athletes is how I would describe Aimee,”
added IUSB Executive Director of Athletics Steve Bruce, "She is a shining star in our Titan family."
Sinacola also created the first-ever "media days" at the university to help elevate all 12 of IUSB's athletic teams. This was a collaboration between the athletic department and the university's marketing department with stylized photos being made for use in all print and social media marketing materials throughout the year.
Sinacola's other marketing strategies included creating the women's volleyball program's Volley-Boo match, not to mention pushing its "Black Out" and "White Out" contests. She also promoted the women's basketball team's Humane Society Game and served on the Birthday Bash committee to celebrate 50 years of IUSB men's and women's basketball.
Sinacola collaborated with the IUSB baseball and men's basketball teams, as well. With the former and Team IMPACT – an organization that tackles social isolation commonly associated with childhood sickness – she did a feature story and created a video on the signing of Thomas Kabelis. She produced a similar video with the men's basketball team and a group of elementary students in conjunction with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Division II National Championships and its Champions of Character program.
Sinacola's department also produced the first-ever IUSB volleyball record book, and she took the time to make presentations for sports marketing classes at both Indiana South Bend and Olivet Nazarene University.
From a conference perspective, Sinacola compiled the list of 2019-20 all-academic selections covering the league's 16 affiliates and 18 sports. This number comprised 965 student-athletes. She also was the lead designer of a new CCAC logo, which will be revealed at the start of the 2021-22 league season.
Sinacola's work in drafting a new basketball court design will also be unveiled with the start of the 2021-22 campaign, while the new IUSBtitans.com website that she was responsible for creating, along with SIDEARM, was launched earlier this month.
By claiming the conference sports information director award, Sinacola is now eligible for national honors, which will be announced by the NAIA in mid-September.
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