National Tournament??

Hi Varsity families and players –

We are exploring the possibility of sending our Varsity boys team to the National Championship Tournament, which is being held in Springfield, Missouri this year. However, it is a big commitment that would need to be made by all of the families involved if it is going to work.

We'd like to talk to all of you briefly after the game on Saturday(tomorrow) to determine if this is something we should pursue further. But because timing is critical (we are already on the late side of making a decision), I've decided to send out a brief overview of what would be involved so you have an opportunity to give it some thought before we meet to talk about it.

 Schedule:

¨    Monday, March 16 – 2:30 pm through Saturday, March 21^st

¨    Will play 5 games, starting on Monday night

¨    First two games in Division II pool play – teams ranked 33-64 in the 18U division. Our play in those two games will determine which bracket we play in for Thurs/Fri/Sat games.  I think they place teams into  4 different brackets of 8 teams each.

¨    Games are played in the afternoons and evenings – they have speakers in the mornings that are geared to the entire family (at least they have in the past)

Costs:

¨    Team registration cost is $425

¨    Individual registration is $30 – t-shirt and program

¨    Housing (or a lot of driving back and forth) – looks like it would be needed Monday night, and then Thurs/Fri nights (from what I can see, Wed is an off day for games..

¨    Food

 Options:

¨    Individual players who are interested in going can register to play on Team USA, made up of individuals whose teams aren't participating… the advantage here is that those 16 and younger could register 16U instead of 18U. I don't think there is any team registration for that.

¨    Go to watch games one or two nights (the 18U boys Division I is very high quality basketball, and worth going to see for sure!)

 

Here are some personal thoughts on this.  Our son Andy attended this tournament twice when it was held in Oklahoma City, playing with the Lebanon Rockets organization. Dan attended the first year, and I the second, and both of us were very impressed with the organization and the way they run the tournament. We have mentioned this in past years as a possibility, but we understand it is a big commitment of time and resources,and we have not pushed it.  It being in Springfield makes it more accessible, but the commitment is still big. We have not promoted participation this year because personally we have conflicts that week, but our presence is not required. If there is enough interest, we will do what we can to help make this a reality.

 There are a bunch of deadlines this weekend, including signing up for housing at discounted rates negotiated by the tournament at local hotels. It was recommended to me that we make reservations if we think at all we will want to stay in hotels…. They can be canceled later.  The online housing deadline is 5 PM tonight, though, so it would need to be done immediately. If someone wants to do that on behalf of the group, that may be wise. Or we can search out other options for housing, which is a good possibility--I've already made an initial contact with our volleyball coach who has contacts in Springfield, both churches and individuals with large homes.

If you want to find out more or register for housing, you can look at the website:  http://www.homeschoolbasketball.com/

Look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow!

Dawn