The 2017 NIRSA Championship Series Summit convened from June 12–15 at the Grand Hyatt in Denver, CO for the Series’ first full summit since 2015. In recent years, members of the NIRSA Championship Series have been invited to join other key leadership groups at NIRSA’s summer leadership meetings. There, the Championship Series collaborated with groups like the Member Network and promoted its mission to others in the Association.
The NIRSA Championship Series Committee, which consists of three executive team members and nine work team chairs, is off to a running start! Aware of the large amount of work to be done in their short time together, Summit attendees were intentional about aggressively tackling the agenda. They spent time reviewing a NIRSA Championship Series overview and gained some necessary historical perspective. Members were oriented with the NIRSA Championship Series’ structure as well as with the overall Association—including NIRSA Headquarters, the NIRSA Services Corporation, and tournament staff.
They then moved into general work team procedures and logistics before finally diving into the specific charges tasked to each group. Members reviewed and finalized committee and work team charges as well as a committee action plan and timeline for 2017-2018.
“The summit provides an opportunity for the Championship Series chairs to get together in order to build relationships and set designated starting points for planning for the upcoming year,” explains Oscee Wheatfall, Intramural Sports, Assistant Director at Texas A & M University-College Station and Chair of the NIRSA Championship Series. “It allows the executive team to communicate expectations as well as give needed and useful background information on the role of the Championship Series. Having a dedicated Summit to work on planning and implementing is huge to the development of new and existing chairs.”
These meetings facilitated some great discussions that brought forth new charges for many of the chairs. Another crucial aspect of the summit was that it facilitated team building. A lot of the work put out by the NIRSA Championship Series throughout the year requires collaboration between multiple work teams. In these four days, the new group learned to trust and lean on one another.
The following individuals were present at the 2017 NIRSA Championship Series Summit:
- Oscee Wheatfall, Texas A & M University-College Station, Chair
- Randall Ford, The University of Texas at Austin, Vice Chair
- Scott Flickinger, Cornell University, 2nd Vice Chair
- April Flint, Emory University, Assessment Work Team Chair
- Megan Morris, Loyola University Chicago, Basketball Work Team Chair
- Nicole Widmer, San Diego State University, Brand Management Work Team Chair
- Drew Cantwell, Louisiana State University, Club Basketball Work Team Chair
- Laura Thomas, Texas Tech University, Soccer Work Team Chair
- Keegan Ashbee, University of Florida, Standards of Competition Work Team Chair
- Arianne Judy, University of Notre Dame, Student/Professional Development Work Team Chair
- David Bowles, University of Florida, NIRSA Services Corporation Board of Directors
- Valerie McCutchan, NIRSA Director of National Sports Programs
- Keeley Naughton, NIRSA National Sport Programs Coordinator
- For more information, please contact NIRSA Director of National Sport Programs Valerie McCutchan.
Keeley Naughton is the NIRSA National Sport Programs Coordinator
