ORLANDO, Florida -- As successful as the first Division II National Championships Festival was, administrators critically analyzed the event to find where improvements could be made.

John Saboor, executive director of the Central Florida Sports Commission, had only one regret.

"I wish that every athlete could have been at the same hotel," he said. "Each of the three hotels we used had the same framework, but the athletes were probably limited to interacting with those who were in the same facility. The next group that does this will have a good opportunity to build on the layers of the experience that occur outside the field of play."

The original plan called for a student-athlete gathering area at a nearby lake. Not only did some unexpected construction make that impossible, it also compromised student-athlete access to a shopping center where the CBS Beyond the Game exhibit was set up.

However, overall complaints were minimal even though two of the championships facilities were far from the headquarters hotels. Men's golf was about a 30-minute drive up highly traveled Interstate 4, while the women's lacrosse site was essentially across town at the University of Central Florida. The men's golf site was by choice; the women's lacrosse site was a fallback option after a more proximate original selection proved unworkable.

Likewise, the opening ceremony was conducted at a fallback site -- Universal Studios theme park -- after construction issues made the first two options unworkable. The Hard Rock Live facility was an excellent alternative, but it also was about 15 miles away from the headquarters. One coach expressed concern that his golf student-athletes, facing an 8 a.m. tee time at the relatively distant Victoria Hills Golf Club, weren't able to get back to their rooms until about 10:30 p.m.

Other coaches apparently were concerned with the late hour as they pulled their teams from the opening ceremonies before the band Collective Soul finished its program.

"We certainly don't want to affect teams with early morning starts the next day," said Championships Committee Chair Joan McDermott, "so I think we might look at moving up the start time for the opening ceremonies for future festivals."

The transportation system appeared to work well, although it was not heavily relied upon. Many spectators believed rental cars were a good option since the weekly rate was about equal to the cost of cab fare to and from the headquarters hotels from the airport.

"We'll need to look at whether we need the shuttles," Management Council Chair Sue Willey said. "I know they weren't used as much as we thought they might be, but we really had no choice but to err on the side of caution in that area."

While there were opportunities for improvement, none of them overshadowed the overall success of the first festival. In that regard, others were looking at future events as an opportunity to better bond Division II.

"We need to make this into a 'can't miss' event for as much of the division as possible," said Steve Murray, commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. "After hearing about the success of the first festival, I think we might look at conducting our conference meeting at the festival site. That depends to some extent on the site and how practical the travel is, but I believe that these festivals are uniquely important to Division II. I think the membership should treat them that way."

-- David Pickle