The recent calendar year was a banner one for WIBCA and its member coaches and studentathletes. WIBCA, the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association was founded in 1974 and is the exclusive association of high school boys’ basketball coaches across the state of Washington. We are a non-profit organization and operate under the umbrella of the Washington State Coaches Association. Annually, the number of events, activities, and awards that WIBCA hosts, promotes and sponsors continues to get larger and larger, all in the name of providing services and benefits to our membership of coaches and their student-athletes. Some of 2017-2018’s highlights include record all-time membership, our six All-State games, Showcase event and our annual Hall of Fame inductions. We are in our second year at the All State games of not charging any of our 60 participants a fee to play in the games. Our sixteenth annual Showcase event in May brought 60 of the best high school basketball players in the state to Bellevue College for two days where they showcased their basketball talents while also gaining life skills along the way. College coaches from the Pacific Northwest came to watch and evaluate these players. Also at this year’s Showcase, WIBCA again promoted our Dribble, Shoot, Swish event that gave young people the opportunity to win money but more importantly to increase those funds by making an initial charitable donation on their behalf with their initial winnings. The Hall of Fame inductions held in Mountlake Terrace had a fantastic turnout and recognized three long-time head coaches from the high school and collegiate level, one assistant coach and two individuals each for their service and dedication to the sport of boys’ basketball in our great state. In July, WIBCA sent a group of four board members to the National High School Basketball Coaches Association meetings in Raleigh, North Carolina. For the past nine years, WIBCA has seen their membership in this association increase. Our role as a leading state association nationally continues to be significant while also being an association that is very well represented at these meetings. WIBCA provided two outstanding clinics this year, one in the fall in Yakima and one in the spring in Chelan for coaches to increase their professional development learning from outstanding coaches and basketball-related individuals while also having opportunity for coaching collaboration and networking. Our coaches across the state again stepped up and promoted our WIBCA vs. Cancer week at the end of January. Our donation total from a variety of events during the week continues to grow and grow as we near the $700,000 mark. Donations are made to local cancer charities in each high school programs community. The association, with the support of our members and in collaboration with the NHSBCA, made significant contributions to charities in Florida and Texas on behalf of their state basketball coaches association to assist those impacted by the Hurricanes Harvey and Katrina. WIBCA saw record sponsorship dollars come in this past year and because of this we were able to continue offering two $1,000 scholarships to deserving high school seniors. As we look forward to the future, 2018-2019 will be one of the busiest ever for our association. The recent changes that have been implemented by the NCAA for their Division 1 recruiting calendar now allows WIBCA to host and produce two first class events next June for our student-athletes to be showcased and evaluated. WIBCA is very proud of what we do for coaches and student-athletes and is humbled by the participation and support for our association by so many individuals. Over the past 45 years now WIBCA has grown and grown into the proud and great association we are today and following up next year with another outstanding one we will be even stronger one in the future.
