RUMSON – The 12th annual Hoops for Horizons 3-on-3 basketball tournament will kick off at the Rumson Country Day School on Thursday, March 6, and run through Saturday, March 8.
All funds raised will benefit the Horizons Student Enrichment Program.
For a second year, the charity event will be held in honor of Albert E. Martin Jr., the Red Bank Regional basketball player who died suddenly in December 2012. A Horizons graduate, Martin played in the Hoops tournament every year to give back to the program that made a difference in his life.
According to Horizons Executive Director Lori Hohenleitner, nearly 200 basketball players of all ages played in last year’s tournament, which raised nearly $75,000 for Horizons, a tremendous boost for a program which relies 100 percent on private funding.
“Last March, there was such an outpouring of support for Albert and Horizons, we’ve decided to expand the event to include an extra night of play and added some exciting new features, including a special guest speaker,” said Hilary DiPiero, who is co-chairing the tournament with Donna Gibson for a second year.
The new additions to the tournament include Thursday evening games for fifth- and sixth-graders, a community fair on Saturday featuring exhibitors and vendors and a not-to-be-missed workshop with Bill Burke at 6 p.m. Friday, March 7. A respected college basketball coach, Burke’s presentation will be about basketball and life skills that apply long after the final buzzer rings. Burke’s long basketball career includes time as director of basketball operations at Iona College, the University of Louisville, Loyola College and Boston University.
All boys and girls the fifth grade and older are welcome to participate in the Albert E. Martin Jr. Hoops for Horizons tournament. The competition begins at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon with fifth- and sixth-grade division. Play will continue at 3:30 p.m. Friday with the girls seventh- and eighth-grade bracket, followed by the high school/adults under-29 bracket in the early evening. Hoops for Horizons will conclude on Saturday with the boys seventh and eighth grade and adult 30-plus divisions.
There will be prizes for winning teams, chance auctions, a bake sale and snacks for purchase with all money raised benefitting Horizons’ 2014 summer program and the local students who attend.
Horizons serves more than 135 at-risk children from Red Bank for six weeks every summer with additional programming throughout the year. The award-winning program fights against the educational achievement gap and it works: on average, Horizons students gain three months in reading and math skills by the end of the summer.
Additional information is available by contacting Horizons Executive Director Lori Hohenleitner at horizons@rcds.org or 917-715-7608.
Registration and donation information also can be found at www.rcds.org/horizons.
