Hoops for Hearts is an event that was held during the school day in past years. Students signed up and made basketball teams of four; it cost $5 a person and all the money went to charity.
All of the students that participated in the event were excused from their classes during the school day, and the turnout was always large However, the school has not done the event since two days before the COVID shutdown.
“The pandemic did put restrictions on what we could and couldn’t do once we returned,” PE department chair Jen Tomczak said.
The idea for Hoops for Hearts started about 12 years ago.
“The American Heart Association had Jump Rope for Heart for a very long time prior to Hoops for Heart. This then morphed into “Hoops for Heart” at the high school level.” Tomczak said.
Students from all grade levels were able to participate. There were also two different brackets: a girls bracket and a boys bracket. Each team would play 4 games at a court, and whoever won the most games at the court would move up through the bracket.
“It was fun to be able to get out of school to play basketball with my friends.It was also fun being able to play against students from other grades as well,” senior Josh Hafner said.
As of now, the seniors are the only students that have participated in the event. The real question is whether this event will be brought back.
“We have discussed running something on a smaller scale per class period. That idea is still on the table,” Tomczak said.