Ball Hard Or Go Home

Last night, the Junior Class at (RFH) hosted a three on three basketball tournament in the school’s gym to fundraise for their class’s proms and other senior year activities.

“It seems like everyone is playing hard and having fun! It’s a great way to raise money for our class,” said Katie Hake, the secretary for the Class of 2012 who was there to help out. 

Over the past three weeks, Sam Gottuso, the Vice President if the junior class, has been planning the tournament. Gottuso hung fliers around RFH and successfully recruited 20 teams composed of both students and staff members. There was both an all male and a coed bracket, and each bracket had its own winner. The cost to play was $12 per person and $36 per team which included a free t-shirt.

Gottuso also collected sponsorships from local businesses, which were printed on the back of the tee-shirts. McLoone's Restaurants, Jack Howley Financial Group, and Hunter Douglass were all sponsors. Their donations were hugely appreciated.

When asked about the organizational process Gottuso said, “It was extremely stressful, and I put a lot of work into organizing it, but it was worth it.”

The teams spirited some healthy competition, some fans came out to support their favorites and a fair amount of money was raised for the Class of 2012.

“We ball hard or go home,” said Clare Heintzelman, a junior who was embracing the competition.

Within the gym, about four games went on at once and all were played with an equal amount of intensity. Jimmy Lenskold, an 11^th grader on one of the teams said, “It was rough out there and there were a lot of guys who were bigger than us, but we had fun and it was for a good cause.”

There were about twenty-five fans that sat on the sidelines and cheered on their favorite teams. Peter Lyden, one of those fans said, “I noticed it was a huge deal and a fundraiser to support our class. I just wanted to come out, watch some guys play and have a good time.”

The winners of the all male bracket were called the “Mud Guppies” made up of Mr. Wilson, a ceramics art teacher, then Jack Wise and Tom O’Keefe who are both seniors. The winners of the coed bracket were Ben Alderoty, Meghan Phillips, and Colin Kreutzberg, all of whom are juniors. The winners received gift cards to Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Crazies, or iTunes.

By the end of the night, a total of about $900 profit was made, deeming the event worth all of Gottuso’s hard work, as well as all of the players’ effort.

Ms. Camp, the Junior Class Advisor commented on the night by saying, “I’m really happy with the way it worked out and I’m very proud of Sam for putting in so much work and energy to help our class!”