Changing for the better

And just like that, the month of May is here! April always seems to fly by as we make final preparations for conferences, work teams, and committees, and get ready to support graduating students while also providing new opportunities to our professionals. It is that month where we can see the finish line but know we have so much more to do before we get there. It also provides us with a chance to attend the NIRSA Annual Conference in person.

This year’s Annual Conference was held in Phoenix, and a great time was had by all attendees. As an attendee of the past few conferences since COVID-19, it was good to see the number of attendees increase with more people interested in this opportunity for the NIRSA family to get together. While the conference is a good opportunity to exchange ideas and new information, being able to see friends, family, and colleagues in person is what makes it worthwhile. Seeing the growth—either professionally or personally—from your colleagues is refreshing, and being able to learn from and contribute to this process is rewarding. During the conference, the NIRSA Championship Series Executive Team was able to meet with key stakeholders and NIRSA leaders to talk about the Series’ future and the potential opportunities out there for participants and volunteers.

As we look to the future, it’s important for everyone involved to come to the table with an open mind and creative freedom. During our presentation “The NIRSA Championship Series: A Time to Celebrate and Look to the Future” we wanted to begin communicating about what we hope is a new and exciting time for all involved. We’re continuing our relationship with the National Football League in conjunction with RCX Sports, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Clay County Tourism as they support the 2024 National Flag Football Tournament in Middleburg, FL. We’ve formalized the Series Hall of Fame to recognize all the great individuals who have helped us get to where we are today. And in order to continue progressing and preparing for the future, we spoke about reimagining Series 2.0 and evaluating if it still works in today’s climate. In addition to all this, we understand that some of our sports models—like soccer—are much stronger than others; club basketball could use a revamping and we intend to do just that. NIRSA Staff has worked diligently to put a plan in place that we hope will help facilitate more positive growth for the Series.

In line with growth and adapting to the future, I spoke during our Annual Conference session about the changes we should consider embracing in order to make the tournaments we love more feasible for all involved. As the cost of hosting these tournaments continues to be a concern, we as a collective need to support our colleagues across the country as they implement new cost saving ideas to help with sustainability. Changes to our philosophy and what we prioritize may need to be examined as well. I want to be very careful and express that by no means are we moving away from the student development piece we all love; however, to continue successfully approaching that development piece, we need participants and in order to recruit and retain those participants we have to shift more of our focus to them. You can offer support simply by helping with educating your teams and/or providing more opportunities for them to attend our tournaments. NIRSA Staff will be helping to support these endeavors as well; they’ll be riding shotgun as we grow. They have a renewed focus on transparency and inclusion and are working hard on the backend to reevaluate the way they imagine the Series’ structure. Series 2.0 was great when it initially rolled out some years ago; however, NIRSA Staff understand the need to look at it in its current state and make sure it’s still the best way forward.

While these next few years will require a lot of trust and work from all parties, I truly believe they will also be a tremendous opportunity for growth and transformation. The Series as we’ve known it will always have a lasting impact, but I’m excited to see where the next groups of professionals take it. If you ever want to discuss these topics more, the Executive Team is more than willing to speak with you.