Competition in team basketball is broken down into male and female divisions for teams in fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades. The Iowa Games also hosts competition for adult teams featuring players over 30 and over 40, but those teams advance directly to the state event. All of the other groups go through the regionals to advance to the state games, Hallihan said. With the Quad-Cities being a new site, we are hoping to fill brackets in each group, but if we don t we will allow teams to go to one of the other four regionals. Pool play or double elimination formats are used based on the number of participating teams in each division and teams have until June 1 to register.
Teams are limited to Iowa residents and students who attend Iowa colleges.
The local regional for basketball is one of few changes planned for this year s event, which will include special 15th anniversary medals as well as the traditional opening ceremonies and family-oriented events during the weekend in Ames. The other change entails the elimination of regional competition in soccer. All soccer teams will now advance directly to the championship weekend in Ames, something that should add approximately 1,000 athletes to the finals competition. Two divisions have also been established for recreational soccer teams. Division I is designed for teams that regularly compete in tournaments while Division II is being added for YMCA and other youth program teams that do not regularly participate in tourney competition.