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HISTORY OF NCHEAC

Homeschool sports began informally in North Carolina with homeschool basketball teams being formed in Winston-Salem in 1995-96 and in Greensboro in 1996-97.  These were the only 2 homeschool sports teams until a third boys team was formed in Weddington, NC in 1999-2000 and Fayetteville in the winter of 2001.  Since there were 4 boys teams and 2 girls teams (Winston-Salem and Fayetteville) as of January of 2001, the coaches agreed that starting a basketball tournament would be a good idea and so the first tournament was held in February of 2001.  The first boys varsity championship was won by Weddington and the girls varsity championship was won by Winston-Salem (Forsyth Home Educators). 

The growth of basketball was slow over the next few years, but JV boys/girls and middle school boys/girls were added in 2003-2005.  A girls volleyball tournament was started with teams from Fayetteville, Wake Forest and Winston-Salem in the fall of 2004.  Enough basketball teams had formed between Winston-Salem in the West and Raleigh - Fayetteville in the East that teams wanted to play each other in an actual league with required regular season play. So, in the summer of 2006, the North Carolinians for Home Education Athletic Commission (NCHEAC) was formed under the authority of North Carolinians for Home Education (NCHE).

Over the next several years, boys soccer (2006) and girls soccer (2008) were also added.  Additionally, golf and baseball tournaments have occurred in some years.   More recently, state tournaments in cross country (2011) , swimming (2012) and fencing (2014) were added.  Through the success of these NCHEAC teams, they have started playing private and public school teams.  They have also gone on to win on a regional and national level in several sports.  With nearly 150 teams over its various sports, NCHEAC has grown to have one of the largest state-wide homeschool sports leagues in the nation.  It has continued to grow in the number of sports and teams with nearly 2000 athletes state-wide.