March Madness 2015: Homeschool Basketball Championships Underway

— -- Home-schooled kids across the eastern states are taking part in their own "March Madness" this week. Teenage boys and girls are competing in the 2015 East Coast Homeschool Basketball Championships at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

The tournament, which is not quite at the same level as the single-game elimination style NCAA tournament, has nonetheless grown since it started about 20 years ago. This year, there will be 100 teams from 11 states, which is a significant jump from the 42 teams in 2007. Next year, teams from Oklahoma and Texas will likely play in the tournament, but there wasn't enough room this year, according to tournament organizers.

Chris Davis, executive director of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit group Home School Sports Net, said his participation started like many of the other volunteers who run sports programs for home-schooled kids -- with his own family.

"I started the organization locally back in 1991 as a coach -- coaching my kids," said Davis, a software developer by day from Linden, Virginia. "I wanted to branch out to play other home-school teams."

Davis, 54, and his kids, who are now adults, help him plan the annual basketball tournament and coordinate softball and soccer games as well.

While the tournament is growing, it's not quite the money machine that the NCAA March Madness is with broadcasting rights and sponsorships. The home-school teams pay a registration fee to help defray the cost of securing the venue, for example, but the spectators get to watch for free. The tournament started on Tuesday and ends on Saturday.

Ernest Hodges, who has led North Carolinians for Home Education since 1996, also started organizing sports for his kids.

"I started the basketball team in 1996 -- that’s when I got pulled into home-school sports," Hodges said. "I wasn’t expecting it or looking for it. My son was a baseball player and got bored with it. But around 12 or 13, there’s not much competitive basketball unless it’s in the school. Everything else is on the recreation level. It just so happened there were enough home-schooled kids to put it together."

Many students, he said, eventually play for college teams. He noted that his daughter went on to start as a soccer player at Word of Life Bible Institute in Pottersville, New York. Today, North Carolina has what may be the second-largest home school sports network after that of California, with about seven sports, including fencing.

"Under state law, you can’t play on a public school team unless you’re a full-time public school student," Hodges said. Likewise, anyone who plays on a home-school team has to be home-schooled. Students of any background, race, ethnicity or religion are welcome. There are about 600 girls and boys basketball players under the North Carolinians for Home Education Athletic Commission, which has about 1,000 athletes.

Hodges, who is a full-time physician's assistant, is paid a "very small" stipend each year, which as board member said comes out to about $1 or $2 an hour. Even the coaches, who have experience with high school and college teams, are volunteers.

"Our teams are competitive teams. Not all of them are that good but a lot of them clearly run in the middle of public schools," Hodges said.