Dublin High School Students Donate $10K To Disabled Athletes

DUBLIN, CA — If a group of high school students earned $10,000, many parents might sweat thinking how they’d choose to spend it.

Four Dublin High School students who earned that sum coaching basketball during the pandemic decided to give it all away to a charity supporting disabled athletes.

During the pandemic, Meghana Dwaram, Aadya Tomar, Anjana Kidambi and Rhea John founded DubShot, a basketball skills camp aiming to ”build a solid foundation for players in grades [2-7] regardless of skill and gender.”

They earnestly handed out flyers and went door-to-door to promote the camp, which provides group classes at Fallon Sports Park for $15 a session and individual classes for $20. For kids suffering from pandemic cabin fever, this was exactly what the doctor ordered.

“We loved basketball, and we couldn’t really play it, but we did want to teach other kids, and help kids stay active,” Dwaram told Patch. “We just expected a handful of kids, but in our first camp, we got over 30 kids.” During the pandemic, kids played socially distanced outdoor basketball in small groups with a number of different coaches.

DubShot was a slam dunk, but from early on, its founders knew they wanted to use whatever money they earned to give back. “Our mission was always to create a meaningful connection between the players and the sport, so we decided to use the money to give back to an organization that also did that,” said Dwaram.

After researching several organizations, they came upon the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which provides equipment, community, and support to disabled athletes all over the country. “We thought it was really inspiring that they were helping people find their love of sports,” Dwaram said.

On Sunday, the four students joined athletes and staff from CAF’s Northern California chapter at Sharks Ice San Jose, and two players from the San Jose Barracuda, to meet some of the athletes and present the check, right before a curling and sled hockey clinic. Dwaram said that it was touching to see some of the athletes, DubShot’s donation would help.

“It was really heart-touching,” she said. “You sympathize with disabled athletes, but to meet them and hearing about their experiences really showed us how no matter how much they struggle, they do try to find a way to combat that, especially going to these events.”

Dwaram said a parent told her that her daughter loved going to CAF events just for the human connection they brought. “It was so nice to see how these kids could connect with different sports, regardless of disability,” she said.

“This is monumental for our NorCal community,” Eva Kristof, CAF Norcal’s programs coordinator, said at Sunday’s event. “ We really can’t thank you enough. These funds are gonna go so far, beyond this clinic, to so many individuals within the community for grants, camp and clinic opportunities. This is a really big deal, so we cannot thank you guys enough.”

Though the four students are leaving for college next year, they say they plan to continue DubShot after they leave, and continue to donate the proceeds to CAF.

For more information, visit dubshot.org and challengedathletes.org.