Over the weekend, the Grace College Athletic Department sponsored its first-ever Champions of Character Classic. (Read about it here.) Roger Grossman, a Warsaw sports personality and writer, shared his thoughts about the event in a column Wednesday in the Warsaw, Ind., Times-Union. A portion of it appears below. Click here for the complete article.
First Classic Was Great, But What’s Next?
OK, so occasionally I have to tread on thin ice when I write each week, and I am going to do that again today.
I feel very confident that everyone who I mention today will understand what I am trying to say and do, and not hate me for years when they have finished reading. The last thing I need is to be called into any meetings.
The Champions of Character Classic Saturday was great. It brought four teams whose head coaches were connected to former Warsaw coach Al Rhodes together in the same place on the same day, and then they invited Rhodes to come and be part of the festivities (which he did).
It was a “classic” format, which means each team plays two games but they know in advance who they are playing and what time their games will be. In other words, it’s not a four-way tournament.
Warsaw, Zionsville, Fishers and Valparaiso were the four teams.
Attendance wasn’t that great – partly because of the weather, partly because the teams were from more than an hour away, and partly because it’s during the holidays and people have other stuff going on.
Oh, and it must be said honestly, that for that kind of format with those schools to work and have a big day at the box office, having Warsaw start the day with a record of 3-6 doesn’t help. No one can help that, but if Grace invites those same four schools to the same event last season, attendance would have been much better, and two years ago there would have been people standing on the decks at the MOCC.
Again, no one can help that.
But, I have a couple of suggestions to help Chad Briscoe and Grace College make this event better for everyone.
Click here for the complete article.