By Bonnie Hainline and Kendra Henry
The NIRSA Championship Series is excited to announce a significant expansion to regional and national basketball competition opportunities.
In the 2013-2014 year, NIRSA will kick off its first regular season leagues for men’s and women’s club basketball teams, opening up new avenues not only for club teams, but also for top officials and host institutions organizing staff.
The new tournament will be structured around a regular season, regional tournaments, and a national event.
2013-2014 will kick off our first regular season for Men’s and Women’s club basketball teams.Regular Season
- Club basketball teams from across the country will have the opportunity to register for a three weekend (approximate) season of round-robin play, with four teams per group.
- Conferences will be created based around the geographical location of registered teams.A minimum of six teams must register within an appropriate geographical area to form a conference; efforts will be made to keep travel to a minimum.
- The regular season will begin in October and finish in late January or early February.
- The regular season entry fee is still TBD, but will cover costs associated with administering the league, insurance, regional and national entry fees for champions, and travel stipends.
- Each club will be responsible for related officials-fees at round robin events.
- A league commissioner will schedule the games and locations in collaboration with the club teams.
- The league’s officials assigner will schedule officials for each round-robin, based on the host site of the event.
- The assigner will work with schools in the area to assign top student officials.
- The champion of each league will receive free entry into a regional tournament.
Regional Tournaments
- Regional tournaments will host the best teams from men’s and women’s club divisions.
- Any club team may pay the regional fee to enter into the club division.
- Men’s and Women’s club champions will have their entry fee to the national tournament waived.
National Tournament
- The national tournament will continue to host Men’s and Women’s club divisions.
- Additional club teams will be accepted into the national tournament outside of those that won regional tournaments.
- A men’s and women’s club basketball champion will be crowned.
Sign up to be a League Commissioner or Official’s Assigner
The league commissioners and officials assigners will be chosen through an application process on the NIRSA website. Positions involve a two-year commitment, with league commissioners being regionally located. Applicants should have experience with sport clubs and scheduling. Selected individuals will be responsible for creating a league schedule for at least one league in their region, and for developing relationships with participating club teams and their schools. If you are interested in becoming a league commissioner, please click here to fill out the application by August 16, 2013.
League officials assigners will be located regionally and should have experience in officiating and scheduling officials; some experience with scheduling sport clubs is preferred. Interested individuals should be current or former basketball officials who have scheduled officials in some capacity, including intramural officials.
The selection of officials for these games will be a key component in ensuring an excellent club experience for participating teams and schools, and ensure that student officials are given as many opportunities to grow as possible. If you are interested in becoming a league assigner, please click here to fill out the application by August 16, 2013.
Get your school’s club teams involved in what is sure to be an amazing experience for a host of students and professional staff. Please share this information with the club basketball teams on your campus! Registration information will be coming soon!
