GauchosPlay Founders
Founded during the Spring of 2008, Gauchosplay.com was introduced to UCSB Recreational Sports by pioneer Chad Briner. During the early stages of development, Chad worked with two dedicated UCSB alumni, Tom Widroe and Art Fisher, who helped him initiate the Gauchosplay project. He worked tirelessly on the site everyday and developed a vision of seeing it utilized similar to ESPN.com, yet designed specifically for UCSB Rec. Sports. That Summer Chad unfortunately passed away leaving a window of opportunity for three dedicated students to pick up what he had started and see his vision through.
The beta version of Gauchosplay.com was launched on the first day of school in September 2008. The new managers of the site were Joel Katz, John Batikian, and Sam Demello. These three students devoted all of their time and efforts to the site and began to see it as a valuable resource to UCSB Rec. Sports. Joel assumed the role as Manager of Operations while John and Sam were primarily responsible for uploading new content and developing the technical side to the website.
The beginning of Winter quarter 2009 signified the launch of Gauchosplay 1.0, the first version outside of the beta testing phase. At this time the once called "GP Project" was now seen as a working website with an entire staff of writers, photographers, and videographers built around it. The Gauchosplay brand was now being established within Recreational Sports as providing its online users with the most up-to-date featured news stories, photo galleries, highlight videos, team statistics, standings, schedules, and much more. Chad's early innovation was coming to the fruition and the potential for the site continued to grow on a daily basis.
The vision for Gauchosplay has swayed back and forth numerous times throughout the years. Initially designed as a place to recognize participants and athletes on their achievements and hard work through creative uses of media, GP has now evolved into a world-class resource as well. In so doing any information that current, future, or former Rec. Sports participants may need to know can now be found somewhere on Gauchosplay. The photos, videos, and stories produced online compliment the resourceful informational and set Gauchosplay.com apart from any other Recreational Sports website on the internet.
It's been a long and winding road to the current status of Gauchosplay, but support of the Recreational Sports staff and community have helped to see this site grow into a sustainable form that will be valued and utilized by future Gauchos for years to come. With over 15,000 participants yearly and the limitless ways of getting involved with Rec. Sports, the need for a website, especially in this day and age, is essential. The early Gauchosplay pioneers, Chad Briner, Joel Katz, John Batikian, and Sam DeMello, have cemented their legacy and know that Gauchosplay will continue to grow as a presence among the UCSB campus and community.
It's here "Where GAUCHOS Play" and important to always remember, "It's a great day to be a Gaucho."
