Mike Smith:
Chris, what led you to form the Home School Sports Network?
Chris Davis:
Back in 1993, when I formed my first homeschool team in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, I wondered what it would be like to play other teams. And I also thought about, "Wouldn't it be great to have a state championship or a playoff system?" But as I mentioned earlier, it was very difficult to find other homeschool teams and it was really hard to find other coaches. So in 1997, I officially formed HSPN, and it was basically to kind of get a database and to document where all the sports programs were in our state. This, I thought, would help me better schedule games in the future with other teams that were close by. Since that time, HSPN has sponsored 18 state tournaments for soccer and basketball here in Virginia. And just a few weeks ago, we had our annual Virginia basketball tournament with teams from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and South Carolina, as well as Virginia.
Mike:
So that was a regional tournament? Is that correct, Chris?
Chris:
We do have regional tournaments; that's correct, yes.
Mike:
How many teams participated?
Chris:
We average 24 to 30; this particular one had 28 teams in it.
Mike:
Well, that's a great result. And thank you, Chris; and listeners, join us next time as we continue our discussion of homeschool sports. And I'm Mike Smith.
