By Valerie McCutchan
Hosting a NIRSA Championship Series event requires time and resources, but it also provides your department with a flood of fun and staff development. It is also a great opportunity to showcase your campus. Consider hosting an event—host site applications for 2016 NIRSA Championship Series regional basketball and soccer tournaments are now available!
The chance to host one of the NIRSA soccer regional tournaments is a brand new one. Hosting a soccer regional is slightly different from hosting a basketball or flag football regional since campuses don’t have to do any marketing to get teams to attended—only qualified teams in the regional will get a bid to play. Campuses will still have to set up the operational framework that gives staff professional development opportunities though. We encourage NIRSA member institutions that are interested in hosting to submit an online application.
Megan Morris, Program Director of Campus Recreation at Loyola University Chicago and Chair of the NIRSA Championship Series Basketball Work Team, says that “hosting a regional tournament is an opportunity to showcase your university campus and recreational program and facilities all while providing educational and recreational opportunities to hundreds of participants, students, and staff. Hosting a tournament takes hard work and a dedicated staff, but nothing is as rewarding to your students and staff as when the first game tips off at center court on your campus.”
“I’m very excited to have the support of NIRSA to provide a more consistent framework for the soccer regional tournaments,” adds Mary O’Mahoney, Director of the Student Recreation Center at California State University, Bakersfield and Region VI Soccer Coordinator. “It’s great to see soccer join the ranks of flag football and basketball with regard to how NIRSA partners with an institution as a host. It legitimizes the process we use to determine bids that much more. And, let’s face it, NIRSA people know how to run excellent tournaments.”
Hosting gives your community an economic boost and is also a chance to proudly show off your school. It brings positive attention to your institution, which attracts potential graduate assistants. In addition to the short-term and long-term advantages of hosting a NIRSA Championship Series regional basketball or soccer tournament, hosting is worth it for the fun and satisfaction alone. The deadline to submit a soccer host site application is Tuesday, May 31 while the deadline to submit a basketball host site application is Friday, June 10.
For more information about hosting a basketball or soccer regional tournament, or if you have any questions about hosting, please contact Director of National Sport Programs Valerie McCutchan.
