Sioux City, Iowa — Sioux City’s Tyson Events Center is in its 24th year of hosting the NAIA Women’s Basketball National Championship Tournament.
Steve Salem, one of the volunteer coordinators, says those who donate their time make everything possible, though the event has become a lean-running machine through a series of changes.
Fewer volunteers are needed because Sioux City now has only the final 16 teams come to town in the single-elimination tournament. In previous years, the entire field of 64 teams was in Sioux City. Salem says there is a lot of tournament experience in his group of four dozen or so volunteers.
Salem says chatting with the fans who come and root for their team is part of the reward for him.
The tournament runs through Saturday when the national championship will be decided.
