Dear Coaches, Administrators, and Counselors 

As many of you are aware, the high school Tournament of Champions, for those students who place in a curriculum or scholastic competition, has once again been cancelled this year.  As of this time, there are no plans by the Oklahoma Association of Community Colleges, who originally were in charge of this event, to revive it.  As a result, our students who qualified this year will have no state competition.

            As a high school coach and G/T director, I am very unhappy about this turn of events.  I have heard from many other coaches, teachers and administrators who are also unhappy about it.  So, I have decided that someone needs to step in and try to get this up and running again.  I have talked with Patrick Phillips of Stigler, Craig Wall of Haworth and Gordon Bockus of Wilburton.  They, too, would like to see this tournament continue and are interested in getting someone to handle it.

            Gail Bliss, who runs the Oklahoma Association for Academic Competition and the junior high Tournament of Champions, has expressed an interest in taking this competition over, but only if she is not stepping on someone else’s toes.  She is hesitant to just jump in and start without feedback from coaches and administrators around the state.  I have worked extensively with Gail, and I would have no objections to her handling this tournament, as I know she would work closely with the academic coaches’ association to make sure it was a quality tournament worthy of state recognition.  If she took it over, Gail would handle having the tests written/revamped, location, date, registration, administration and awards.  There would also be a nominal entry fee ($5.00) for each student to offset the costs of testing and awards.

            In order for us to make a decision that will be acceptable to the majority of those concerned, I need some feedback from you.  Here is the information I need from you:

 Do you want the Tournament of Champions to continue?

Do you have any objections to the OAAC taking over the tournament?

If so, do you know of someone else who is interested in running the tournament?

What other concerns/comments/ questions would you like to add or have answers to?

            Please send your information to me at lmckern@warner.k12.ok.us or lmckern@peoplepc.com   

If you know of coaches or administrators not on the OACA mailing list, please forward this information to them.

Thank you for your time,

 Laurie McKern

Warner High School Academic Coach and G/T director

Warner High School