The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets hosted the first annual Senior Military College Basketball Invitational over the weekend, as 16 ROTC and corps teams from several universities across the eastern United States converged on Blacksburg to battle it out on the basketball court. Schools such as University Georgia, University of Florida, University of Kentucky, Ohio State and Villanova were among the universities to come from out of state, while James Madison University, the University of Virginia and Richmond also fielded teams. Virginia Tech had three teams in the event: Gold, Silver and Black.
The 16 teams in the tournament were split into four pools, named after influential members in the history of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. The top two from each pool advanced to the single elimination round. All of the games, except for the championship, which was held at Cassell Coliseum, were played in War Memorial Gym.
The games were played to NCAA rules, except for a running clock for the first 18 minutes of each half.
“This is the first year we've held the tournament. We're starting out small, and hopefully it will grow over the years and become an annual event,” said junior Ryan Plourde, president of the VTCC Athletics Club and an organizer of the event. “The purpose of this tournament is not only to play basketball, but also promote camaraderie among ROTC detachments across the country.”
The event cost $ 2,000, which was covered by registration fees, fundraisers and help from the Student Budget Board.
Fellow organizer and tournament director, junior Jason Haggard, was optimistic about the future of the event.
“We worked really hard to get this tournament put together, this is a result of a two-year effort to get everything in place, and we're very excited about not only this year, but the years to come,” Haggard said.
Haggard also said that they hope to be able to support and offer tournaments in other sports such as football, soccer and baseball.
A team that stood out at the tournament was the Hampton Roads NROTC. It fielded players from Old Dominion, Norfolk State and Hampton University, and many of the players were in the mid to late 20s, with a few players in their 30s.
“A majority of them have served many years as enlisted personnel and been deployed overseas a few times before they went to college,” said Amanda Battig, who along with her infant son, Gavin, came to watch her husband Doug play in the event. “We like to travel as a family, and coming here for the weekend gave us a great opportunity to take a break, plus it's nice to visit such a lovely town and beautiful campus.”
Despite the presence of many ROTC programs from big schools, it was the North Georgia State College & University Corps of Cadets that captured the title, defeating the Ohio State NROTC team 65 to 47 on Sunday. Virginia Tech's Gold and Silver teams both advanced past pool play, but their title hopes were derailed by injuries and absences. The University of Georgia ROTC received the Gregory Award for outstanding sportsmanship, hustle and pride.
Senior Jordan Beam, a member of Virginia Tech Gold team, was excited about the tournament.
“It gave us a great chance to meet other ROTC programs from across the eastern U.S., and be able to see what they do differently. It was also a lot of fun to see how we matched up physically,” Beam said.
Along with the events surrounding this weekend's tournament, members of the Corps of Cadets participated in the final part the Caldwell March. Cadets march 13 miles in the fall and 13 miles in the spring, following the path that the first student and cadet, Addison Caldwell, took to enroll.
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