Houston will be a popular championship destination for Division II student-athletes in the next 11 months. Not only will Division II conduct its spring sports festival there in just a few weeks, the Division II Championships Committee recently announced a return visit for the inaugural winter version of the festival next March.
Rice University and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority will host the spring festival May 14-17, during which champions will be crowned in softball, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, and women’s lacrosse. It will be Division II’s third festival after Orlando in spring 2004 and Pensacola in fall 2006.
The fourth edition also is in Houston March 11-14, 2009. The University of Houston will assist the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority with the event that features men’s and women’s swimming and diving, wrestling, and men’s and women’s indoor track and field.
Division II officials were confident when they launched the festival idea in Orlando that the concept of bringing hundreds of student-athletes to one site to compete for national titles would catch on quickly. They were right – so much so that festivals will be held three of every four years so that student-athletes in every participating sport will experience at least one during their careers.
Requests for proposals have been sent for the fall 2010 festival. After that, the rotation is spring 2012, winter 2013 and fall 2014.
By then, Division II officials also hope that more Division II institutions and conferences will be prepared to help host. Rollins, West Florida and the Sunshine State Conference assisted with the first two, but the next two rely on Division I facilities. That isn’t too alarming, said the NCAA’s Sharon Cessna, who leads Division II in administering the festivals. Because the approach is still relatively new – and because of the lodging and facility demands that come with hosting hundreds of athletes in multiple events – most Division II entities are just now weighing their options.
“Housing 800-1,000 people is not the easiest task for a lot of places,” Cessna said. “But it’s an idea that is catching on. Once we get through the winter version, everyone will have experienced the entire cycle, which may prompt more interest from potential hosts.”
Division II members in Minnesota and Colorado already expressed interest in the 2009 winter festival but were not sure they could meet expectations. Another possible Division II host was in the middle of facility construction and wouldn’t have been ready for the 2009 event. Those schools and others, though, are interested in future bid cycles.
“The primary challenge for Division II schools and their communities is the sheer size of the festival,” Cessna said. Weather also is an issue for fall and spring. Climate isn’t a factor in winter, but the number of participants is higher because of the number of individual sports.
“But the fact that we’re going to Houston for the next two festivals doesn’t mean that there’s little or no interest from potential Division II hosts,” Cessna said. “Once more institutions experience the festival themselves and share best practices on how to host such a large event, we expect more Division II institutions and conferences will want to be more directly involved.”
The University of Houston will host the 2009 Division II Winter National Championships Festival, including championships in swimming, indoor track and field, and wrestling. / Photo courtesy Houston Sports Information.