It’s that time of the year again.
Each season, players, coaches and the school community begin a new journey together. Teaching and coaching is a great profession that provides opportunities for many men and women to make a difference in the lives of the student-athletes we serve by helping them grow through their involvement in the game of basketball. Hopefully when the season ends, beyond the wins and losses, it was a memorable season for everyone involved.
This past year has brought some changes and potential changes to our great game.
As most of you know, our compromise tournament proposal was not accepted. Instead, the IHSAA created a task force to study the issue and present another proposal to the full IHSAA Board of Directors for consideration. The board’s decision on the task force’s proposal is expected sometime in November.
The length of quarters in Junior Varsity games was increased to seven minutes, and, if schools choose to do so, each may add two games to its schedule.
In an effort to bring the Girls’ Basketball State Finals back to Indianapolis, the IHSAA decided to begin the Girls’ Basketball season one week earlier (beginning in 2015-16). By starting one week earlier, this creates an overlap with the volleyball season. The IBCA is continuing to look at potential ways to address this issue.
Thanks to Charlie Hall, Pay McKee, Beth DeVinney and Mike Broughton, the Indiana-Kentucky All-Star series and the national Rising Senior Academy event once again were a huge success. More than $35,000 was raised for charity through the All-Star series.
The Indiana-Kentucky Challenge Cup got off to a good start this past season with five Indiana schools participating against five Kentucky schools in a day of competition at Freedom Hall in Louisville. Special thanks to Tom Beach and Aaron Garrett for their efforts in organizing this event. More information about this year’s games is featured in this E-newsletter.
Under the leadership of Marty Johnson, Renee Turpa, Kathie Layden and the coaches who took time from their busy schedules to participate, the Boys’ and Girls’ Top 100 Underclass Showcases were successful again for the 12th year.
Special thanks to Chris Benedict and Tom Beach for their work in putting together the IBCA Tournament proposal that was presented to the IHSAA. Even though we did not have the result that we would have liked, it was not because of any lack of effort or preparation on their part. They represented the IBCA in a first-class fashion.
For this season, we hope everyone will continue to be involved with the “Coaches vs. Cancer” program during the month of January. To date, more than $680,000 has been raised over the past seven years by participating Indiana basketball programs.
Also in January, you will be receiving a mailing with numerous nomination forms. Please make sure to meet the deadlines. You must be an IBCA member to nominate anyone for postseason awards. Please do not eliminate a deserving student-athlete for postseason recognition because you missed the deadlines or forgot to join your professional organization.
In closing, I wanted to provide another copy to you of a memo that Marty Johnson, Mike Hackett and I issued to IBCA member coaches in late August. If you have any questions about those topics, please let me know.
We appreciate your support of your professional organization. If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your IBCA representatives. Best wishes for a successful season.
Steve Witty
AUG. 25 MEMO TO IBCA MEMBER COACHES
| DATE: | Aug. 25, 2014 |
| TO: | IBCA Members |
| FROM: | Steve Witty, Executive Director, IBCA
Marty Johnson, Associate Executive Director, IBCA
Mike Hackett, President, IBCA |
|
We wanted to take this opportunity to communicate with you about a couple of basketball issues and misconceptions that have arisen over the past few months.
1. Moving of Girls Basketball Season starting date
We knew the IHSAA leadership was having discussion on this topic, and we expressed the membership's overwhelming support with regard to how such a move would allow the Girls Basketball State Finals to be played in Indianapolis.
The IBCA, however, at no time proposed that we move the start of the Girls Basketball season without addressing the overlap (or potential overlap) with volleyball. The first the IBCA knew of the adopted change (start of girls basketball without a corresponding change to the end of volleyball) was when it was released by the IHSAA. We are working with our membership and others to address this issue.
2. The Basketball Tournament proposal
For the past two years, an IBCA Committee has been working on a proposal to address issues that our membership communicated to us with regard to the State Basketball Tournament (boys and girls).
When that proposal was presented to the IHSAA, it was tabled before a vote could take place. Instead, the IHSAA Board of Directors formed a Task Force with the charge of reviewing the IBCA proposal and subsequently submitting its own proposal to the full IHSAA board.
It is the Task Force's proposal that will be voted on by the IHSAA on October 2, not a proposal put forth by the IBCA.
There are some components in the Task Force's proposal that the IBCA had addressed in our earlier proposal and we believe will make our tournament better. However, the Task Force's proposal was not submitted by the IBCA.
The process for change is a long and, at times, frustrating endeavor. We will continue to strive to communicate your thoughts and appreciate your input into any future proposal ideas.
Please contact Marty Johnson, Mike Hackett or me if we can assist you in any way.
|
