Trying to find the words to express what ten years of serving the NIRSA Championship Series means to me —especially over the course of this past year—is a formidable task. Yet, I can say without a doubt that the Champ Series is the best thing that has happened to me professionally. I have no second thoughts about this journey because I have been runnin’ down a dream. I couldn’t help falling in love with the Series and even though it has sometimes been a hard day’s night, I have enjoyed every moment of the dance. After years of serving at tournaments, on Series work teams, and on the Championship Series Committee, I feel a little like I am about to be free fallin’; however, I’m also excited to create room at the top for new leaders because I know they can work it out as they advance the Series.
Takin’ care of business
Looking back over the last year, it is amazing what a group of passionate volunteers can accomplish—even if that sometimes meant working overtime. Overall, the Championship Series had 15,381 total participants, 637 student officials, 1,314 volunteer staff members, 79 work team members, 34 regional tournaments, and put on four national tournaments.
This was a big year for making shifts in flag football leadership. In the name of transparency, applications were offered for those interested in serving as a director or assistant director of competition of the all-tournament committee. Also, in a survey of flag football officials at the national tournament, 94% agreed or strongly agreed that they were better for participating in the tournament while 92% were excited to take the knowledge they gained back to their campuses.
Every single official who responded to the survey at the national basketball tournament agreed or strongly agreed that they were excited to take the information they learned back to their institutions, that they were better for participating in the tournament, and that they found value in officiating at the event. Club Basketball also gained some traction and expanded the conference by adding one division of four teams.
Soccer successfully completed its first year of having regional coordinators and tournaments under the NIRSA Championship Series umbrella. This has helped bring some consistency to the participant and staff experience. Soccer also created new job descriptions and applications for its leadership positions at the national tournament to be used for the future. This year, they made an intentional effort to invite staff who had previously been declined to the national tournament. I love the intentionality of this group.
Tennis is working on a pilot program for officials and had its first NIRSA members and students officiate at the national tournament this year. Read more about the incredible tournament in the NIRSA News article “Michigan wins the 2017 USTA Tennis On Campus National Championship.”
Working for the weekend
Just like our programs on campus, much of the work that goes into creating transformational experiences and memorable events happens behind the scenes with little fanfare. Everyone is working for the weekends that our events occur. The Standards of Competition Work Team read, researched, discussed, and made decisions on 16 eligibility appeals. They also streamlined language in the eligibility guidelines to make them easier to understand. The Student and Professional Development Work Team helped with webinar creation, tournament application distribution and analysis, and researched the potential effects of the Fair Labor Standards Act on professional participation in tournaments.
This year, following the lead of the Member Network, the Series’ leaders started using @nirsaleaders.org accounts. Using these accounts—which run on the Google platform—has allowed us to transition applications to the forms function, share documents more easily, and create a digital archive that can be passed from leader to leader. This allows for better transition practices and searchable historical information. I want to offer a special thanks to David Peters, Association Director of Campus Recreation at Florida State University, for spearheading this effort for both groups. Recognizing that there were sometimes gaps in communication with Series information, an extensive list of stakeholder was created. When items come up in the future that need to be communicated out, the stakeholder list can be referenced to determine who needs to know what when.
The Assessment Work Team has been working hard on a three-year assessment plan to dig deeper into participant and staff experiences to evaluate learning outcomes, aid in decision making, and help better tell the Championship Series’ stories. The Brand Management Work Team has continued to promote events on Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, and on their latest addition, Snapchat. They continue to look for ways to innovate and promote the events and work of the Series.
The Championship Series had the opportunity at the Annual Meeting of Members at NIRSA 2017 to present how it provides development for members and students. What a great way to showcase the educational and leadership opportunities the Series provides to the entire membership!
Don’t stop believin’
We’ve had our share of ups and downs this year, but somehow we always made it through. Some conversations have been challenging as people see issues differently, but I appreciate a healthy discussion. Limiting the participation of officials at the national basketball tournament so they can only attend two tournaments has been one such topic.
In 2016, the Basketball Work Team submitted a proposal to establish this new eligibility criterion to allow more students to attend the event and to put into writing what was an unwritten rule for at-large applicants. After discussions with key stakeholders, the Series adopted the belief that officials would not gain as much additional knowledge at the event after attending twice. And since there was a large, qualified applicant pool, it was only fair to give more burgeoning officials the chance to benefit from world-class instruction that they can then bring back to their campuses.
After discussing the need for more women in flag football at both the clinician and official levels, it broke my heart that we did not have a single female clinician on staff at the national flag football tournament this year. Research shows that women working in hyper-masculine work environments will either self-select away from fields when they don’t feel welcomed or valued, work hard to make a name for themselves, or leave after one or two poor experiences. This is not to say that men cannot be excellent mentors for women, but we need to do a better job of finding out why no professional women applied to be on the clinicians staff at national flag football and— as a group that celebrates equity, diversity, and inclusion—work to recruit female flag football clinicians.
Twenty three percent of intramural sports professionals are female, but only 21 women applied to be officials clinicians at regional flag football tournaments with only four selecting that role as their first choice. In contrast, 17 women selected officials clinician as their first choice for basketball regionals with four applying to be Regional Director of Officials.
There are a number of factors to consider when trying to determine the disparity between the sports. Factors like how more women continue to officiate basketball, how there are less undergraduate women officiating flag football, how the tackle football experience is celebrated, and how females very possibly lack confidence in their own abilities. I know I experienced the latter quite a bit myself as an undergraduate; however, as I grew older I realized how important it was to model the way for women coming behind me and for the women in the field to have someone representing them as an officials clinician. The irony is that I think I would have made a better clinician when I was younger and closer to my time spent on the field, but I it was easier to be accepted as an officials clinician after I had established myself in other ways at events. I hope in writing this that some of our young, professional women will find the confidence to put themselves out there more than I did and apply to be officials clinicians at regional and national events.
Ain’t no stopping us now
Looking back over the last ten years with the Series, I can confidently say that we have come a long way. What started as a small group’s idea to have a Tournament Operations Manual for regional events turned into one of the best leadership and development opportunities a young professional could hope for professionally. It led to the creation of an application process to serve at events and work teams so that more people could contribute to events without traveling. It brought a community of practitioners together to put best practices forward for student and professional development, event management, and student engagement. The Championship Series has become a leadership pipeline and has created an identity of excellence. Who knew we would model the way on a transgender participation policy, have grant funded research, live stream national championship games, and be a partner of Special Olympics?
Speaking of Unified Sports, I cannot say enough good things about this program and am so happy that we had three regional basketball sites (Western Michigan University, the University of Florida, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln), three regional flag football sites (the University of Florida, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of Maryland), and six teams at national basketball this year. The past 10 years have been challenging at times, but they have also been astonishing. As President John F. Kennedy said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
As I think about the next ten years, the Series will no doubt have its trials. Nonetheless, it will remain filled with opportunity. We have the chance—as we improve our record keeping and have more and more access to information—to become even more intentional as we select qualified applicants to volunteer at events. Those applicants might have been previously declined from volunteering only because so many more-seasoned applicants stood in their way. As individuals, we can sometimes create openings for others by choosing to apply to volunteer at less events or only every other year. There are student officials development opportunities in soccer and tennis that are in their infancy. We must continue to foster assessment and student engagement to make sure we are following the right course of action. It will also make sure that we remain focused on the participant experience.
As the Series continue to face challenges, we will have to answer many questions: How can we make strategic decisions to help attract intramural teams to basketball and flag football events? How do we encourage collegiate recreation professionals and departments to support team, official, or professional travel to events? How do we balance the costs for participants with student and professional development costs? How do we reach financial stability? How do we recruit applicants for work teams and national events that better represent the populations of the various regions? I believe that it starts with telling our story and staying true to our values and guiding principles. I am excited to see where our leadership will take the Series next.
Simply the best
I wrote at the beginning of the year that I felt a little like an impostor stepping into the Chair role for the Series, and to some degree I still do because this position is bigger than one person. It is the effort and passion of every participant, volunteer, work team member, official, and committee member that makes the Series a success. Thank you to the collegiate recreation programs that have institutional registrations, pay for team entry fees, support travel for participants and staff, encourage professional development at events, and teach young officials. Without you, none of this would exist. You’re simply the best!
Thank you to the University of Alabama for allowing me the privilege of serving in roles for the last three years that required flexibility in my schedule and supporting travel to events. I appreciate the extra work our staff has handled in my absence because it takes a village. I am thankful for the NIRSA Services Corporation Board and NIRSA Executive Director Pam Watts for their support and vision for the Championship Series. I have learned so much from their leadership about strategic planning, seeing the big picture, and dreaming large. I appreciate now more than ever the vision and wisdom of those members who put together the guiding principles for the Series in those early years. They set us up for success from the very beginning.
Thank you to all the past Championship Series Chairs who helped get us to today. It was not always easy, but you persevered and modeled the way. I am excited to join this distinguished group as we support future chairs. Thank you to every work team and committee member who toiled to improve the Series this year. We had a wonderful team this year and it has been my honor to serve with you. The Series could not have a better advocate than NIRSA Director of National Sports Programs Valerie McCutchan. Thank you for challenging us and working so hard to make the NIRSA Championship Series a success.
There are too many friends and mentors who I would like to thank to list everyone by name; however, I would be remiss if I did not publicly thank Dan Hazlett, Assistant Director of Campus Recreation at Georgia Tech, and David Peters. They are the Godfather and Voice of the Championship Series respectively. Their continuing contributions to the advancement of the Series and passion for improvement are countless. It has been my privilege to call you mentors, thank you for continuing to pour into me and always being an email or phone call away.
I have met the most wonderful people through my involvement with the Series and made lifelong friends and mentors. While I have many goals professionally, it has been my dream to serve in this capacity for the NIRSA Championship Series. It was all I dreamed of and more. I hope that some of you will consider taking on this challenge someday. It was truly one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Thank you for allowing me to live my dream. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know that I will always look fondly on this time in my life.
What’s next?
Brooke Turner, Chair of the NIRSA Championship Series, is currently the Assistant Director of Competitive Sports at The University of Alabama.
