Plans for 2009 Nationals

This summer as we prepare for the Eighteenth Annual National Christian Homeschool Basketball Championships to be held in March of 2009, we will be making a number of very significant announcements about four very important projects we are developing. We are faced with numerous hurdles that need to be overcome in order to assure that we remain on course for achieving the goals that have been our focus since I was appointed Executive Director of the NCHBC in 2000. These goals have been foundational in every decision that we make in the administration and direction of the NCHBC. Here is a list of our goals:

1) To host a family event that emphases our Christian heritage.
2) To provide a quality event that families are willing to take a week of vacation to attend.
3) To provide a balanced tournament that:
A. Provides a format that allows all teams to compete with teams at or about their talent level.
B. Provides the top teams a chance to play in a National Championship atmosphere.
C. Provides an opportunity for coaches, players and parents to see what it is possible by seeing the top level teams.
4) To showcase the top talent for college coaches and the media.
5) To demonstrate to others that Homeschool basketball is not behind and our tournament is equal to state tournament caliber.

While I believe we have been making steady strides in achieving all of our goals, we have some serious concerns about making sure goals one and two stay intact. The main hurdles that we need to make sure we overcome are in the areas of financial concerns.

1) The cost to attend Nationals for families continues to increase (hotels and food).
2) Gas prices are getting completely out of hand.
3) Tournament expenses continue to increase (for example we have been informed that officials cost is increasing 20% this year).

I want to assure you that we are committed to not increasing the cost for teams and players to attend. However, we are concerned that families will decide they can’t afford to attend and will start just sending their children with “the team”. We can’t think of anything that would undermine the health of Nationals more than having mom and dad stay home.

As a result we have put together a truly fantastic fund raising project that will help players and teams. We would like to invite every team to participate in this program. This is the first of our four projects.