The annual Chadron State College Hoop Shoot youth basketball tournament for players 4th-8th grade is this weekend with games Saturday and Sunday in the Chicoine Center, Armstrong Building, and Nelson Physical Activity Center.
Last year’s Hoop Shoot drew 77 teams from Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, and South Dakota – the most in at least 9 years. Registration numbers for this year haven’t been released yet.
The Hoop Shoot was begun by volunteers as a charitable fundraiser in honor of a former local player who’d died, but was shifted to the CSC basketball programs in 2014 when the volunteers wanted to step down.
It’s now a fundraiser for the Chadron State men’s and women’s basketball programs, who split the proceeds, and is also an early recruiting tool, giving students and their parents an opportunity to see the campus.
The Hoop Shoot has long been praised by local leaders as producing a winter economic boost with hundreds of young players, coaches, and families coming to town, staying in motels, eating at restaurants, and making purchases in local stores.
Games begin at 8:00 Saturday morning and will run until about 8:00 pm, then resume at 8:00 am Sunday with the last games wrapping up around 6:00 pm.