MOUNT OLIVE — If there is one thing Ronnie Wise has learned in his tenure overseeing the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Winter Classic, it’s that even the busyness of the days preluding Christmas can’t dampen the passion for basketball in Wayne County and surrounding areas.
The 11th annual Winter Classic gets underway on Wednesday inside Kornegay Arena on the University of Mount Olive campus. The tournament is scheduled for Dec. 20-22, and six of the eight teams in the field are from Wayne County, except for North Duplin and James Kenan.
The second annual Women’s Winter Classic is being held Dec. 27-29 at Lenoir Community College and features 12 teams in three divisions competing in 18 games over three days. Wayne County schools Rosewood, Southern Wayne, Wayne Prep, and Eastern Wayne are scheduled to be in the field.
Southern Wayne won the inaugural Women’s Winter Classic on its way to finishing the 2022 regular season with a record of 22-0.
Southern Wayne and Wayne Christian get the Men’s tournament started at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, followed by North Duplin versus Wayne Prep. Rosewood takes on Wayne Country Day at 5:30 p.m., and Eastern Wayne faces James Kenan at 7 p.m.
Fans who are not able to attend the tournament in person can watch online for free.
“I’ve definitely seen the tournament grow,” said Wise, the Greater Neuse FCA Area Director. “The COVID year was a little bit of a setback. Last year, it was growing again, and this year I think it will be even bigger. People from the community who aren’t even involved with these schools are coming to the tournament. Some of the coaches tell me this is the best tournament around. We try to treat the teams well and the coaches well. We have teams every year that start contacting me early, asking to get in on the tournament, and usually, they’re too late. I put out the invitations to our existing teams and I have to put them out in February. This year, I was trying to have the teams locked in by the end of March.”
In the tournament’s infancy, the Winter Classic did not possess nearly the local flavor it has become known for in recent years. A concerted effort to attract local programs to participate has not only elevated the prestige of the Winter Classic but also increased fan anticipation.
“The closer the teams are the more fans they bring,” Wise said. “Historically we’ve had to have a couple of teams from out of the county. But, this year the only teams from outside Wayne County are James Kenan and North Duplin, which is right across the line. So, we’ve tried to reduce our footprint. Any time I put out the invitation the first teams I consider are teams within our footprint. I think that’s helped a lot. When you get local teams, that increases the number of people that are there and it increases the excitement.”
As the Winter Classic has grown, so too has the opportunity for teams to not only maintain the momentum they have developed throughout the early portion of the season but continue to build off of it as well. The blend of public and private schools has provided Winter Classic participants an opportunity to face opponents that would not normally appear on their schedules.
“Any time there’s a break from sports the coaches are worried that their teams aren’t going to do anything during the break,” Wise said. “This keeps them together, keeps them focused on basketball, so the coaches have that contact with them. Some of the other feedback we have gotten from coaches is that they like the mix of public schools and private schools in the tournament. It gives them a chance to face teams they wouldn’t otherwise play.”
The 2023 Women’s Winter Classic will feature divisions this year as opposed to a bracket. Each team will compete against the other three teams in their division, and the team with the best record in their respective division will be crowned a 2023 Women’s Winter Classic Division Champion.
“We have 12 teams in that tournament,” Wise said. “We have three divisions of four teams, and they like it a lot because traditionally there’s not been as much for the girls teams. We give 12 teams the opportunity to compete and continue playing basketball, that they might otherwise not have.”
Having access to 20 high school basketball teams over the course of two separate tournaments provides the FCA with a significant opportunity to continue to impact the lives of coaches and athletes while spreading the organization’s larger message of faith.
“After each game either one of us from FCA, or a guest that we have come in, has an opportunity to speak to both teams,” Wise said. “Everything we’re bringing them is from a Bible basis, and we spend a lot of time talking to them about character and integrity. We try to help the coach, coach the whole person. We also really try to pour into the coaches. The coaches are the influencers. We feed the coaches a special meal in the hospitality room and give them some special gifts.”
