3 Ball Backer Basketball Fundraiser looking like a successful first year

ROYAL CITY — Prep basketball today is not your grandfather’s basketball or even your father’s. All it took back then was a pair of decent gym shoes and a couple of bucks to eat on the way home.

It was a winter sport only. Then everything changed.

Coaches started developing players for colleges and possibly even the NBA. It became a year-around sport. The cost to schools, players and families rose. Now it costs generally around 10 bucks for only a hamburger, fries and a drink.

But there is only so much money to go around for not-so-wealthy rural families, especially those who do farm labor. If Royal coach Pete Christensen’s program was going to catch up to and keep up with the competition, he needed to find a way to help potential players ease the burden of year-round play.

“I stole an idea from a team in California,” Christensen said. “I was just doing some web searches for ways to raise money for a basketball team, and this is one that came up.”

The fundraiser, called 3 Ball Backer, was introduced at the second home game this year. Fans were asked to pledge an amount (50 cents, 5 dollars) to the program for each 3-point shot the team made during the year.

Pete did not want to be the coach and also handle the fundraiser. He handed it over to Larry Christensen. The final figures are not in yet, but it appears all went well.

The Knights made 144 three-pointers this year. When all of the pledges were totaled, they were worth about $20 per shot. That works out to about $2,880.

“I am hoping we get enough community support in the future to be near $50 per shot in the next couple years,” Christensen said. “That will go a long way to getting our kids to (summer) tournaments and camps without having to over-stress the kids for funds.”

Christensen liked the idea of having several people contribute a small amount to make the overall number sizable. The coaching staff worked together to organize the introduction.

“We designed a letter to send out to people we knew, but it wasn’t very complete by any means,” Christensen said. “That mailing list will grow before next year.”

The money earned through 3 Ball Backer will be used to offset the cost of summer basketball and to help with the boys youth program. It will help fund a $500 scholarship to one senior boy player (for now) for his college education.

Although 3 Ball Backer is designed to help boys attend camps and tournaments, Christensen said he “will never make it free” throughout the summer for any youngster.

“I believe there still needs to be some accountability when you participate,” he said.

Still, Christensen realizes the cost can be prohibitive for some boys and their families. In the recent past it has cost some of the players more than $500 to participate in all of the summer games.

“I would like to get that figure closer to just a couple hundred for those that go to all of the summer events,” Christensen said.

A welcome added plus would be for Christensen not to have to dig into his own teacher’s-salary pockets to get his boys to camps.