Alumni fundraising tourney rocks energetic GISS house
Past and present collided at centre court of the Gulf Islands Secondary School gymnasium over the holidays as alumni players laced up their high tops to challenge the 2012 senior boys and girls teams.
The annual alumni tournament has become something of a Christmas tradition in recent years as dozens of players and hundreds of fans use the one-night event as a way to catch up and reminisce.
Lyall Ruehlen, an ex-GISS vice-principal who helps coordinate the competition, said celebration of good times is part of the reason the tournament has been so successful since it began about six years ago.
With all those good times. it’s no surprise Ruehlen couldn’t recall any of the scores from this year’s tournament. What he does recall is some entertaining action on and off the court.
“They were all really good games and were really competitive,” he said. “It was an amazing evening.”
Registration of 45 alumni men led organizers to hold an elimination round between the two randomly selected alumni teams.
Alumni 1 won the honour to take on this year’s GISS senior boys squad but fell short against the youths’ bottomless supply of energy and enthusiasm.
“All the kids were really excited to show off their stuff,” Ruehlen said. “The senior boys came out flying.”
Despite falling 25 points behind, the old timers’ patience and perseverance overcame their weary legs and aching bones to end the game a mere five points behind.
The senior girls team laid everything on the floor to build an early 13-point lead, but experience and a never-say-die attitude allowed the alumni women to cap a late-game surge that fell only seven points short.
Ruehlen said the wins give the GISS girls and boys a well-earned injection of confidence as both teams head into the winter season playoff race.
“It was good for them to pull off some wins,” he said.
The approximately 250 people who attended the event raised more than $700 for the Hoops 4 Hope charity. H4H is a not-for-profit organization that supports youth development throughout southern Africa. The group has connected more than 10,000 school-aged children with organized soccer and basketball programs since it was established 15 years ago. Programs use sport to promote education, health and opportunities to encourage social and personal change in some of the world’s poorest communities.
Coordinators chose to raise funds for H4H because of GISS alumnus Yoni Marmorstein’s involvement with the organization’s Canadian chapter.
“When I heard that the alumni game was going to support Hoops 4 Hope I was so excited. I really had nothing to do with the idea and the event,” Marmorstein wrote in an email from Thailand. “It made me feel great to feel that love and support, especially from Salt Spring as it’s where I grew up.
“To have the fundraiser be there, and be using basketball just as Hoops 4 Hope does, it all just comes full circle.”
Marmorstein said funds raised at the tournament will help his H4H crew in Zimbabwe repair a vehicle capable of transporting kids and coaches to and from programs. He is currently at work on a documentary film about the program.
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