The IBCA is excited for the start of the 2018-19 school year. We have had a lot going on in our great state of Illinois - with the IBCA in particular. Last year, the IBCA began the “Century Club” recognition for our coaches. Another initiative that we began was the Program Victories Milestones. Twenty-one programs throughout the state were recognized for total program wins throughout their school’s history. We also recognized “Organizations of the Year”. The inaugural winners of this award were the Centralia Holiday Tournament, the Pontiac Holiday Tournament, and the DeKalb/Chuck Dayton Holiday Classic. It is so important to the IBCA to continue to recognize and highlight our great coaches, programs, and organizations throughout our state every year! More information can be found on our website.
On May 5th, our Coaches of the Year along with our 2018 IBCA Hall of Fame inductees were honored at our IBCA Banquet at Illinois State University. Our Chuck Rolinski Award, the Herrins’ Award, and the Derrill Kipp Courage Award were presented together for the first time. Our 1,200 plus attendees thoroughly enjoy the night at Redbird Arena in Normal! This past June 9th, 120 of Illinois’ finest girls and boys senior basketball student-athletes competed in our 2018 IBCA All-Star games at Pontiac High School. The games were excellent and included some buzzer beaters and highly contested competition all day. The players, coaches, and officials were outstanding in representing themselves and their respective schools. Once again, the Pontiac community welcomed us with open arms and made it a great experience for all involved! We look forward to another great All-Star weekend in June of 2019 as we bring the best Illinois senior basketball student-athletes to Pontiac for their final high school basketball experience!
As always, our Membership Drive is critical to the growth of the IBCA. We respectfully ask you to please take advantage of our Staff Membership rates for your whole school staff. It will require some coordination with your Girls and Boys Head Coaches as well as your Athletic Director. But, the overall savings to your school is most definitely worth it. Plus, it provides us the opportunity to serve more coaches throughout Illinois. We have also added a $10 Membership fee for retired coaches who are not able to benefit from a School Staff Membership opportunity. Thanks in advance for your continued support!
We are looking forward to another outstanding IBCA State Clinic on September 9-10 at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington. Our Clinic Committee has secured some of the “stars” of last year’s NCAA Final Four, along with some other excellent coaches as speakers for this event. Check our website for additional details about our State Clinic along with the five area “satellite” clinics that the IBCA will host. Again, we hope that you are able to find information about all IBCA related events on our website (www.ibcaillinois.org). As always, if there is any way anyone on our Board can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to let us know.
