Sign-ups begin for Dru Gimlin tournament
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Organizers of this year’s Dru Gimlin 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament meeting at The Grainery in Quincy. From left: Ivania Chavez, Stephanie Keller, Corina Cervantes and Avery Vanderveen.
QUINCY — It takes a lot of work to organize a basketball tournament.
Which is why the organizers of this year’s Dru Gimlin 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament on Saturday, June 9, in Quincy have been at it since January, working out where they will hang flyers and arranging for bathroom access for the day-long tournament.
“It’s important to us,” said Avery Vanderveen, a junior at Quincy High School and one of this year’s organizers. “I’ve always been involved in sports programs, anything I can do to help with the future.”
This is the 15th annual Dru Gimlin tournament, which pits teams of three against each other in honor of a Quincy High School student who lost his life in 2003.
“Dru Gimlin was a junior at Quincy High School, he played basketball on different travel teams, and he was killed in a car accident on Valentine’s Day, 2003,” said Stephanie Keller, co-chair of this year’s tournament. “A few friends put on a golf tournament that year.”
They soon created the Dru Gimlin Foundation, and staged the first 3-on-3 basketball tournament in 2004.
The goal of the foundation, Keller said, is to help high school athletes.
“They didn’t want athletes left behind if they couldn’t afford to play,” Keller said.
The tournament is open to kids, young people, and adults, with boys and girls divisions in grades 3-12 and adult division for those 18 and older. There’s also a chalk art contest and a slam dunk contest in center court. The cost to register a team of four is $90, and the deadline for registration is June 7.
To register a team, contact the Quincy Valley Chamber of Commerce at www.quincyvalley.org or 509-787-2140.
The tournament will also take over several streets of downtown Quincy for the day — Central Avenue from F Street to C Street and D and E streets between Central and First Avenue Southeast.
“The heart of downtown,” Vanderveen said.
But it’s also proving hard for tournament organizers to find adult volunteers to help.
“One of our struggles is to find volunteers to referee and monitor the courts,” Keller said.
Teams are, however, beginning to sign up, and players from Cashmere and Camano Island have already registered, Keller said.
“It’s a great day for the community to get together,” said QHS junior and tournament organizer Ivania Chavez. “Come on down and watch some basketball.”