The NIRSA annual conference was held in Tampa, FL March 27-31, 2012. The conference was well attended by WIRSA member schools as part of the over 2,300 people that made the trip to Tampa. The variety of educational sessions are also made available for download from the NIRSA community library on Habitat (www.habitat.nirsa.org). Minutes from the WIRSA meeting at the annual conference can be found here WIRSA meeting at Tampa 2012
I hope you all enjoyed the conference in Tampa and look foward to Las Vegas in 2013
The 2nd Annual WIRSA Basketball Tournament was held February 24-25, 2012 at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Fourteen men’s teams and six women’s team represented ten institutions from Wisconsin and Illinois. Eighteen officials were hosted from eight institutions; all but two were from schools in Wisconsin. Teams participated in pools of three and played two games to seed all teams into a single elimination tournament, pool play ended at noon on Saturday with some very exciting overtime games. During the tournament draw, a trick shot contest was held. Participants were given 30 seconds to attempt their shot as many times as they wanted, each round was cut in half until there was one winner declared. Joe Vanden Avond, a student from UW-Madison, won and was awarded a $30 online gift certificate to Sconnie Nation.
Tournament games began at 12:45pm on Saturday with some very close games, championship games brought us to Marquette Gold against Eagles from UW-La Crosse, with Marquette Gold edging out the Eagles by a score of 46-34 in the women’s division. The Marquette Gold will advance to represent the state at the Ohio State NCCS Regional Tournament on March 9-11, 2012. The Women’s All-Tournament Team was made up of Katie Hanson from Marquette Blue, Emily Gerber from UW- Whitewater, Kaitlynn Eversoll from UW-La Crosse, Chantal Newman from Marquette Gold and tournament MVP Erica Hartke from Marquette Gold. The men’s division was a closely fought game between Northwestern University and Afternoon Dwiight from UW-Stout. Afternoon Dwiight beat Northwestern University by a score of 70-68 in a very close game. Afternoon Dwiight will also advance to the Ohio State Regional. The Men’s All-Tournament team was comprised of Zachary Manthe from WI Fearless, Adam Rubatt from Mid Cut Socks No Look Passes, Jordan Nelson and Daniel Pengra from Afternoon Dwiight, and tournament MVP Austin Nichols from Northwestern University.
The eighteen officials that participated received instruction from a strong officials committee and met with Dave Kelliher on Friday afternoon. They continued to be evaluated by the officials committee and volunteers from the Southern Wisconsin Officials Association throughout the tournament. The women’s championship game was officiated by Peter Kissinger and Matt Olson from UW-Madison and Tim Windler from UW-Whitewater and the men’s championship game was officiated by Erik Aelling from UW-Whitewater, Anthony Rasmussen from UW-La Crosse, and Sayer Jackson from University of Illinois. Scholarships to attend the Southern Wisconsin Officials Association Officiating Camp were awarded to Erik Aelling, Peter Kissinger, and Tim Windler.
UW-Whitewater is hosting a Schwinn Indoor Cycling Certification on Saturday, February 26. The cost is $225 for the class held at the University Fitness Center from 8am-4pm. Those interested should contact Jen Kaina at 262-472-1145 or kainaj@uww.edu.
This year was the 25th annual Lead On conference and just over 400 students and professionals attended making it the largest Lead On in the history of Region 3! Wisconsin had a fabulous group attend with 7 students from UWL, one from River Falls, one from Eau Claire, as well as 2 students and one professional from Whitewater.
The experience at Lead On was excellent. We got to see the outstanding facilities that Ohio State has to offer as well as the beautiful city of Columbus. The sessions available to attend were excellent as well. They ranged from resume techniques, staff training ideas, obtaining the best NIRSA experience, as well as finding that perfect job. A few of our students also had the opportunity to attend an etiquette lunch supported by ORSA where they learned the proper ways to dine. The conference also gave us the opportunity to attend a unique social held at a comedy club. Conference attendees had the opportunity to eat dinner while watching our waiters perform comedic acts on stage.
Another major part of the conference was raising money for the Region 3 student scholarship. As a region also did a tremendous job raising money from the student leaders pancake breakfast. In addition, Wisconsin did a fantastic job raising 72 dollars for the Region 3 scholarship! We raised more money than Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan! We came in a close second to Ontario but I still think that is a huge accomplishment when comparing the states that we were competing with!
Overall the state of Wisconsin had an excellent time enjoying the 25th annual Lead On!
Mallory Gohl
WI State Student Representative
Welcome to the WIRSA blog! We are hoping you can use this as a resource to find WIRSA and NIRSA news, campus updates, and links to related materials. If you have information for posting or suggestions you can send it anyone on the WIRSA team or email the account set up for the blog: wirsa3@gmail.com.
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