By Jonathan Elliott, NIRSA Championship Series Committee Chair
I can’t believe this is my last entry!
This year has gone by so extremely fast, and it seems the NIRSA Annual Conference was just yesterday.
It was great seeing so many of you there in Nashville, whether it was at the NIRSA Championship Series year-in-review session or out and about the Gaylord Opryland.
The NIRSA Championship Series has had an incredible year! As you’ve read throughout the year in these entries, and perhaps saw for yourself at a NIRSA 2014 session, you know about our highlights, so I won’t be redundant and give you a recap about the year. However, we did end our year with our Basketball and Tennis National Championships, so I would like to take time to share a brief recap of these stellar events.
The Series National Basketball Championships took place in Raleigh, NC last month at North Carolina State University. NC State, thank you for being such an awesome host, and, to all the volunteers and participants, thank you, too, for making the tournament a huge success!
Though everyone brought their “A-game” to Raleigh, we did have some All-American Officials and Team Championships I want to recognize:
All-American Officials
Kyle Bowen, Grand Valley State
Nick Lewis, East Carolina
Nick Meyer, Oakland
Rachael Rayford, Purdue
Tyler Ricks, Georgia
Brandon Schwab, UCF
Team Champions
Yale, Men’s Club
Georgia Tech, Men’s Intramural
NC A&T, Women’s Intramural
James Madison, Women’s Club
The USTA/NIRSA Tennis-On Campus Tournament was held in Surprise, AZ last month as well. Congrats to Cal-Berkeley on winning it all – they had a very impressive showing throughout the whole tournament and were well deserving of capturing the championship!
Before signing off, I have a short list of thank you shout-outs I’d like to include:
A sincere thank you to the NSC Board. Thank you for your direction and guidance over these past three years, as I truly believe The Series is headed in a much more positive direction than ever before. Also, I’d like to give a special thanks to John Meyer, NSC Board President, for his tremendous influence, guidance, and mentorship over the years.
To Val McCutchan, thank you for teaching me the importance of selflessness, going the extra mile, and always putting our students and volunteers first. Being Director of the National Sport Programs is no easy task; however, you always manage to get the job done flawlessly—as if your name were Olivia Pope. Keep handling business, Gladiator!
Pam Watts, your ability to see the long-term, big picture and to articulate your ideas in such a well-thought, well-devised, and strategic manner exhibits and proves why you’re invaluable as the NIRSA Executive Director. Thank you for being in our corner.
To all current and past Series Work Team Chairs—thank you. We wouldn’t be where we are now if it wasn’t for your work, so I humbly and graciously praise you and your accomplishments!
Lastly, I can truly say this experience has been a blast. I learned a lot about myself, yet, more importantly, witnessed the positive changes The Series has moved towards since my involvement. As I’ve stressed before, if you’re ever looking for opportunities to get involved—do it. You won’t regret it. But in order to get involved take this advice—read your NIRSA Knows and your emails. :)
That’s all folks,
JE
