Thirty-five more teams turned out this year for Saturday's three-on-three Hoop Jam basketball tournament, bringing the total to a record 185 teams.
"We expect this to just continue to grow," said Ryan Graves, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Albany, which took over the annual fundraiser in 2007. All tournament proceeds help fund programs at the club.
Boys and girls from all over the Willamette Valley competed in six age brackets through most of Saturday at the North Albany Village shopping center. Championship games are expected to wrap up about 2 p.m. today.
Hoop Jam takes a small army of volunteers, from referees to scorekeepers to waterboys. Close to 300 were on hand for Saturday's games alone.
"This gives a lot of high school kids he opportunity to volunteer," Graves said.
With Pacific’s first home game in the non-conference opener against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps kicking off at 1:30 pm on Saturday, September 18 in Lincoln Park Stadium, the Boxers face a tough lineup this season in the Northwest Conference with opponents such as Linfield, Willamette, Lewis & Clark, and the San Francisco Bay Area’s Menlo College.
As a former member of UC Davis and Stanford coaching staffs, new head coach Keith Buckley is at the hub of the Boxers’ revitalized football program. Several factors played a role in the return of football to this Division III University, including an enrollment initiative.
“The goal for this first year was to attract 57 new additional students,” according to director of athletics, Ken Schumann. “Recruiters have been blown away with the 120 commitments we’ve received making this year’s freshman classes one of the largest we’ve ever seen.”
Not only has the return of football impacted enrollment numbers, but sports information director, Blake Timm, says ticket sales for the 500 reserved seats are nearly sold out for the season. With added temporary seating at Lincoln Park Stadium, game days will see upwards of 2,000 fans in the grandstands.
To promote a game-day atmosphere, the Forest Grove Chamber of Commerce is working closely with the university to transform the City of Forest Grove’s College Way into a tailgater party paradise with a street festival starting at 10:00 am before each Saturday afternoon home game. This enchanting--yet quirky--town, located just forty-five minutes from downtown Portland, has plenty to offer football fans in the way of shopping, dining, and wine-tasting in the Northern Willamette Valley.
Recently named one of Budget Travel’s eight “perfect summer lake towns,” Forest Grove is situated only nine miles from the 1,100-acre Henry Hagg Lake, where Boxer alums, students, and visiting families can enjoy a day of boating, fishing, biking, or hiking … decked out in their red, black, and white, of course!
For more ticket information and the 2010-2011 game schedule, visit www.goboxers.com. GO BOXERS!
i left wanting to be a hippy and wear jeans with dresses and white skirts with cowboy boots and denim jackets and eyelet tank tops....every. single. day.
i spent the majority of the time taking pictures of things i want to create. i'm kind of sneaky like that.
there were so many cute things to buy. i ended up buying a white skirt for me and an absolutely darling white dress for madison....if i was skinny minnie like her, it would SO be mine!
the barn house display was my absolute favorite. such a cute set up. i might want pigmy goats and lots and lots of hay.
we ended the day with red velvet cupcakes {which by the way, was the first cupcake my mom had had in 6 months....what the heck?} she looks fabulous and skinny and i felt guilty eating in front of her all weekend.
