Since 1985, the event now known as the National Basketball Masters Championships have been an all-male affair. This week, Dave Hulett, the event's chairman of the board, confirmed that the tournament will add two women's brackets to the 2007 tournament, which takes place in Coral Springs, Fla., on May 13 to May 19.

In 2006, the tournament attracted 42 teams in seven age brackets. The tournament had about the same number of teams in 2005, said Hulett, who hopes to have 52 teams in 2007.

He believes that the new women's bracket can spur that kind of growth. Marilyn Rule Heinrich, the women's basketball coach at Nova Southeastern University, will oversee the women's side of the event. She is also a new member of the board of directors for the National Basketball Masters Championships.

"To begin with our biggest challenge is getting the word out there," she said. The tournament will have age divisions for women 22-plus and women 30-plus.

"We are uncertain how many older women are playing so thought 30 would be a good starting point for us and we will go from there," Hulett said.

Rule-Heinrich said she wasn't ruling out accepting teams in older divisions. "If we get four teams in a division, we'll have a tournament in that age group," she said. "If there is interest, we would have teams in the 40-plus, 45-plus and 50-plus."

Rule-Heinrich is even thinking about putting together a team for the tournament. "If I get myself in shape enough, I might try to put together a team," Rule-Heinrich said.