The following information has been provided to us, verbatim, by the tournament director for our upcoming tournament in Albany next weekend.
1. For those of you, that are new to our event…our practice is to post the schedule on our web site…on the Sunday before the event…. In this case, that would be this Sunday, Easter Sunday. However, in this case, it willNOT be possible to do so..this Sunday..for the following reason:
2. As some of you may have heard…and for those of you that put on such events for boys AAU…you are no doubt “in the loop”. For those not..here is the scoop. Our wonderful friends at the NCAA, are (this week)considering legislation, that if adopted, would PROHIBIT the conduct of “non scholastic” events on the campus of ANY Division 1 Program, for all players that are of “recruitable age” They define recruitable age as being 7th grade and above. We were informed of this..by the compliance officers at U Albany..this past Friday. If the legislation is indeed passed, it will take effect, (reportedly), April 29th, 2011. Yep..the Day BEFORE our tournament. So…that’s why..I labeled in the subject line of this email…”Plan B” Yes…we have a plan B. Either Plan A or Plan B that is eventually pursued…the event is a GO!!!
3. Plan B would be as follows: we play all games for 5th and 6th graders at U Albany. We play all games for 7thgrade and above…at Union College ( a D-III facility) ….approximately 20 minutes away from the U Albany site. In any event…all your games will be at one facility, regardless of which venue you play at.
4. So…do ya think…we are scrambling a bit…since this news hit??…you betcha!
5. And given the fact that tomorrow is a holiday for some of you…including the colleges on whose campuses we play..our ability to get good information…and finalize details on all of this….in a timely fashion…may be sketchy at best. Hence..no schedule Sunday night, as is our typical practice.
6. More than likely..we will not have a good schedule to post..until Monday evening…when all this settles out.
7. Lastly…hotels..for those coming in from out of town..that have made reservations…at or near the U Albany campus…I would advise you hold them…I have checked the hotels in Schenectady…there are really only two…Holiday Inn and Hampton Inn. They are both owned by the same entity…they know they are the only game in town…and their rates are approx $45.00 per night higher than the hotels we recommend in Albany… (for those of you that have not yet booked..contact me..I have flyers from some heavily discounted hotels..that are right off Rte 90…provide double double rooms for the ridiculous rate of $89.00, which includes full breakfast, health club, bar, pools etc etc…