2016-17 was another record year for the North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association. Thanks to ideas we incorporated (borrowed from other states) from our participation in the 2016 NHSBCA meetings, our year end membership grew again, to over 750 coaches. We also gave out more awards and honors to our players and coaches than ever before. Our 2017-18 membership has already surpassed 800 members for this year and we usually have a large rush to sign up in early February, just before we start accepting our All District nominations
The NCBCA has been busy this Fall and Winter planning the 2018 North Carolina-South Carolina All Star games. The games have been played annually in South Carolina since 1998 (8 years in Rock Hill, 12 years in Myrtle Beach) but the corporate sponsor in SC backed out. The NCBCA was able to secure the House of Raeford Farms poultry producer and their non-profit wing, FLOCK, as this year’s corporate sponsor. The games will be played in Wilmington, NC on March 24.
For the first time since the tournament began 20 years ago, the all star players will participate in community service events, including a visit to the children’s hospital at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, hosting free basketball clinics at 2 different Wilmington-area Boys & Girls clubs, and visiting two New Hanover County elementary schools during the weekend of the All Star games.
"One of our top missions with FLOCK is youth development and making sure the kids in our communities become productive and positive members of our society,” said House of Raeford CEO Bob Johnson. “With the Carolinas All Star Basketball Classic, our goal is to not only make a positive impact on these student athletes, but we’re asking them to also make a positive impact on their host community through these volunteer activities.”
Additionally, FLOCK will donate all proceeds of the All Star games to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center Foundation, whose mission is to improve the health and comfort of patients at the hospital. The proceeds will go directly toward improving the women’s and children’s hospital.
The NCBCA is also working diligently on plans to host the NHSBCA’s annual meetings in July 2018 in Raleigh. We look forward to seeing representatives from basketball coaches associations from all over the country here in the Tarheel state in July. We are confident we will be able to arrange excursions to Cameron Indoor Stadium on the Duke campus, the Dean Dome on the UNC campus, as well as historic Reynolds Coliseum on the NC State campus. If you are a fan of college basketball, you will definitely want to join us on Tobacco Road this summer.
