Hoop Like A Girl Finale Venues

I pray everyone has reached home safely! I received many compliments about the tournament, officiating, organization and hospitality! While I might be the front man for this thing, I assure you it is my wonderful and giving parents that make this all possible! These parents and coaches amaze me with their generosity and willingness to give of their time for the development and growth of the game!

The competition Sunday was FIRE (as the kids say)! (3) overtime games and exciting finishes! Thank you all for maintaining a good sportsmanship example for all of our children!

Finally, if you didn't get a chance to finish filling out an accommodations survey, I would appreciate it if you could do it soon: https://pensacolasports.org/accommodations-survey/

Pictures of all bracket 1st place and runner up teams are on our website:

While you are there, please consider registering for our 9th year of Make it Rain Girls Basketball exposure tournament, back at UWF and hosted by Santa Rosa Elite Basketball as a fundraiser for our club.

April 17-19, 2026 - Make it Rain 9 at UWF, Pensacola

Thank you all again and we hope to see you next year!

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Teams: Brackets are seeded and schedule is final! Please keep in mind that sportsmanship is one of the things we are teaching our girls, so please set a good example for them to follow tomorrow!

Reminder: Please help us by filling out the housing survey so we can get some reimbursement for the team tshirts!

https://pensacolasports.org/accommodations-survey/

See you tomorrow!!

The Hoop Like A Girl Finale schedule is final - you can find it on the Exposure App! LINK

Parents and Coaches:
Team Check-in will start at 8AM – gates will not OPEN until 8:30AM – teams will NOT be able to get into the gym before 8:30AM - All teams, if you would please complete a housing survey it would help us tremendously! I will send out a link and we will have it at the check-in table and at the gate table.

There is a map to the gym in thedocuments section of exposure if you have never been there. We have the BallerTV equipment and will be streaming all games -- tell your family back home (BallerTV Link).

Rules sheet is also in the document section:
Games will be scheduled 1 hour and 10 minutes apart
1st and 2nd quarter is running clock (even for free throws) and the 3rd and 4th quarter will be STOP CLOCK. Clock stops on the whistle.
NCAA Rules except for the first half clock and mercy rules (30 points – no press and running clock)

---Coaches: this includes the ball advancement under 1 minute with a time-out AND clock stops under 1 minute on a made shot.

All seeding is DIVISION seeding (exhibition games are marked and do not count toward seeding) – Tie Breaker is: Wins, Losses, then Head to Head, Point Differential (max of 15 pts per game), Points Allowed

Saturday: Games will start at 9:00AM and will end by 5:20 on Saturday – we have 3 courts on Saturday
Sunday: Games will start at 9:00AM on Sunday and end by 3PM on Sunday

Please get there 1 hour before your game (except when you are the first game) – we will NOT start games early, but we also will NOT start them late – if a team is LATE, the clock will start and ONE point per minute will be added to the opposing team’s score until a max of 15 when the game will be a forfeit.

Gate prices are $40 for 2 day pass – or $25 per day for single day pass – Kids 12 and under are no charge – we will take cash, cashapp, venmo and credit cards at the gate

CHECK-IN:
If you could have your families please complete a housing survey it would help us tremendously! I will send out a link and we will have it at the check-in table and at the gate table. ( SURVEY )

8th grade and under teams should either have National Sports ID or plan to check in with all roster players and coaches – ( Link for National Sports ID - Join the tournament here )
IF NOT, the team WILL need to have report cards and birth certificates for all players if you are not a National Sports ID verified team

High School Division: NCAA Roster must be submitted on the NCAA BBCS system for this tournament. Instructions are on the Exposure site and you can also see this link: Basketball Certification - NCAA.org

We have a hospitality room for our volunteers, visiting coaches and officials. Coaches armbands only please -- I wish we could feed everyone, but we cannot. No food can be removed from that room. UWF allows us to do this as long as we ensure only WATER leaves that room. Nothing but water in the gym and rolling coolers are not allowed. Put bottled waters in your backpack or a small cooler you can carry. There is a seating area upstairs in the HLS Center for teams to relax, have a snack in between games.

I'd like to stress good sportsmanship and conduct -- officials are human. They try their hardest and they LOVE the game (that's why they do this) -- please teach your players to respect the game, respect their opponents and respect the officials and set a good example for them to follow.

IF you do have an issue, please bring it to my lead official, Robert Jackson or to me or my assistant director, Chau Luu. ALL of this information is on the Exposure App - please download it and follow your team! It's FREE!

That's it! Travel Safe and we will see you all on Saturday!! Thank you, Tim Michael

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Coaches,

The Hoop Like a Girl Finale was intended to be an extension of our highly successful Make it Rain Girls Exposure Tournament and I scheduled it because we had so many teams asking us to host another tournament.



Our Make it Rain Girls Basketball Exposure Tournament has been successful for the last 8 years because of the support of all of our returning teams, but it is clear that July is not a good time for us to host a girls only tournament.



MAKE IT RAIN in April 2026 will be on April 18-19, 2026. For the teams that are supporting us in this tournament, I will grant you a free entry into that tournament, if you are willing to come back. We have sold out Make it Rain the last 4 years and I fully expect that we will sell out again next year AND will have 4th grade through 12th grade in separate divisions.



Unfortunately, for next weekend ----- HOOP LIKE A GIRL FINALE will have 18 teams. We will start games at 9:00AM on Saturday morning and ALL TEAMS will be scheduled for a MINIMUM of 4 games.



In order to ensure everyone plays different teams, I will need to combine some divisions for pool play. Below is what I want to do. IF you do not wish to be combined with another division, I understand – this was not what we had in mind, but we will do what we can to make sure this is still a quality event for you and your parents – even if it is a small tournament. Please contact me before 6PM tonight and I will give you a refund.



4th grade: 3 teams

5th grade: 5 teams

6th grade: 3 teams

7th grade: 2 teams

8th grade: 0 teams

9th grade: 2 teams

10th grade: 3 teams



So, here is what the schedule will look like when I send out the coaches view tonight:

4th and 5th grade will be combined for a 3 GAME pool play -

- 4th grade will play each other plus each will play (1) 5th grade team on Saturday. Then, the top 3-4th grade teams will seed (based on their games vs the other 4th grade teams only) and play a 3 team bracket for the championship.

- 5th grade will play 2 POOL games vs 5th grade teams and will then play a 5 team bracket for the 5th grade championship
NOTE: 5th grade teams will play a 3rd pool game (after their 5th grade pool games) vs a 4th grade team for 3 teams or against another 5th grade team as an exhibition game (not counting for seeding). If you do not wish to play this extra game on Saturday, please let me know.

6th grade and 7th grade will combine for pool play and Pool play will be in a combined division (3) pool games will be played and then seeding will be:
- 6th grade – 3 teams seeded into a 6th grade bracket

- 7th grade teams will play for the 7th grade championship

- 9th and 10th grade will be combined – 5 teams – you will each play a round robin (2 games Saturday, 2 games Sunday) and the top team will be the champion (division seeding).

Keep in mind that if any team drops out, this plan will have to change….

Team Check-in will start at 8AM – gates will not OPEN until 8:30AM – teams will NOT be able to get into the gym before 8:30AM

Our rules are (see the documents section of exposure):
Games will be scheduled 1 hour and 10 minutes apart
1st and 2nd quarter is running clock (even for free throws) and the 3rd and 4th quarter will be STOP CLOCK. Clock stops on the whistle.
NCAA Rules except for the first half clock and mercy rules (30 points – no press and running clock)

All seeding is DIVISION seeding – Tie Breaker is: Wins, Losses, then Head to Head, Point Differential (max of 15 pts per game), Points Allowed
Games will start at 9:00AM and will end by 5:20 on Saturday – we have 3 courts on Saturday
Games will start at 9:00AM on Sunday and end by 4:10PM on Sunday
Please get there 1 hour before your game – we will NOT start games early, but we also will NOT start them late – if a team is LATE, the clock will start and ONE point per minute will be added to the opposing team’s score until a max of 15 when the game will be a forfeit.

Gate prices are $40 for 2 day pass – or $25 per day for single day pass – Kids 12 and under are no charge – we will take cash, cashapp, venmo and credit cards at the gate

CHECK-IN:
8th grade and under teams should either have National Sports ID or plan to check in with all roster players and coaches – you WILL need to have report cards and birth certificates for all players if you are not a National Sports ID verified team
High School Division: NCAA Roster must be submitted on the NCAA BBCS system for this tournament. Instructions are on the Exposure site and you can also see this link: Basketball Certification - NCAA.org



Thank you for understanding and we look forward to hosting your teams next weekend!

Tim Michael
Tournament Director
HoopLikeAGirl@SantaRosaElite.com
850-316-6885

Parents, players and coaches,
Hoop Like A Girl Finale is set for tomorrow and Sunday!! We are headed in to set up tonight and will be ready for you to arrive in the morning!! If you are the first game, you can arrive at 8am and we will get you checked in and the gym will open at 8:30am. We only have a couple of non-NSID teams so check in should be smooth.

If you take pictures and post on social media, please use #HoopLikeAGirl and tag @HoopLikeAGirl so we can share your photos and videos!

Announcement:: we have obtained a small grant from the tourism bureau and we are using that to give each player a free tshirt coupon from our apparel vendor!

Players can exchange this coupon for a free event tshirt or use the coupon to get $20 off another item!

To help pay for this, we ask that each family that is staying in a hotel or Airbnb to fill out this survey. Please take the time now (or when you arrive) to fill out this survey so we can recoup cost of these! Link to Pensacola Sports Housing Survey

That's all for now, travel safe and we will see you all tomorrow!!

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Hoop Like A Girl Finale Registered Teams: Due to low team registrations so far, we have made the decision that we will NOT have any Friday games. We will still ensure that ALL teams get a minimum of (4) games, but we will NOT have any games on Friday.

Currently registered teams are now visible on the Exposure site. Some divisions only have two teams listed, I have others who have inquired, but I am only listing fully registered teams on the tournament site.I will only put paid teams on the schedule.

**Per our POLICY, IF YOUR DIVISION has less than 3 teams, I will offer you a full refund or allow your team to play up in a combined division. Coaches choice. This is not ideal and we will not make that decision until Saturday, July 12th.**

---> Schedule release day will be Monday night, July 14th
---> Coaches will see a preview schedule on Sunday night, July 13th
---> Team check-in will be the morning of Saturday, July 19th -- starting at 7:30AM
---> Teams that have National Sports ID or HS NCAA Certified teams will only require the coaches to check in ---
----------> 8th grade and below that DO NOT have National Sports ID will require all players and coaches to check in at the same time, 1 hour before your first game

That said, we are still committed to do everything we can to make this a quality event for all teams competing and even though it will be a smaller event, we believe it will still be a competitive and high quality event for you and your teams to attend!

Coaches -- If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me in the evenings! I cannot talk about tournament stuff during the day.

Thank yoU again for your loyalty and I look forward to seeing you all on July 19th!

Sincerely, Tim Michael - Tournament Director
(850) 316-6885
HoopLikeAGirl@SantaRosaElite.com