...was a good cause. Because the Uintah Basin is so far from good cancer treatment, to get treatment is an entire day's event. When people have to go every other day, or every day it gets costly as well. Hoops for Hope was a charity program run by the high school to help raise money for the "cancer van" to run daily trips from Vernal to the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City. It was a success.
The high school boys and girls basketball teams got money for every point they scored, the students 'chucked their change' and the radio station that I work for had an on-air auction of Utah Jazz items and a 2-ball competition in which each point a member of our staff or other participant scored was worth money. I was asked to participate and I joyfully said yes. My donors offered $20 cash, $5 a point and another at $1 a point. Because my teammate and I scored 36 points in 90 seconds we raised over $200 in donations. It was awesome. The van is now up and running.
A side note, Kristin first wrote about this fundraiser for the Vernal Express and so we call it a family effort. A good event that can make anyone feel good. Check out Vernal dot com and read up on it. You may have to search "hoops for hope."
The event was last Friday and the picture above was taken right before my partner and I began. We scored 36 which was the most until the last round when two teams got into the 40's. We got to participate in front of the entire Uintah High School student body during their pep rally. The drill team took state, so it was also a celebration of that. The drill team perormed three times and the my partner, Charles, who is native american (and the national champion of hoop dancing) also performed later during the pep rally.
The girls basketball team lost in their first round playoff game, but the boys won. So they get to play in the quarter-finals at the E-Center. Good Luck Utes. (Uintah Utes, not U of U)
Tonight I only had 10 or 12 points. The refs took my defensive game away from me giving me 3 fouls in the first half OF THE FIRST HALF! I ended up with 4 on the night, I quit trying to plead my case in the 2nd half so he wasn't as willing to give me the cheap calls. I can HONESTLY say that I only deserved ONE of those fouls. I was 0 -5 on three's today, which is frustrating because my shot has been on when I practice at my office (Yes I have a basketball court at work! The picture left is Tori, one of my students shooting on the 10 ft. hoop, we also have an 8 ft hoop). The strength of my game is the drive. I hate to talk like this, but the people out here don't play very good defense. It's different from Provo where you get all the college kids who play all the time. The people here only play church ball for 8 games a year.
