I know most of you know my brother Andy passed away from ALS this past summer. I can't remember if I mentioned our efforts to create Hoops4ALS to raise ALS awareness through basketball. Andy and I reached out to people also impacted by ALS and formed our Hoops4ALS committee back in the fall of 2021.
We've had some fits and starts getting things going - we learned way more about the politics and backroom deals that go into scheduling college basketball games than we wanted to - but our first official Hoops4ALS game is the Duke vs Pitt game this coming Tuesday. Both teams will be wearing Hoops4ALS shooting shirts. Both coaching staffs will be wearing Hoops4ALS pins (pins vs actual printed or stitched on logos for coaches was way more of a contentious point than I thought it'd be). There is an in-house video that will play. We're recognizing some local ALS patients and researchers during a TV timeout and the TV commentators are going to give us a shout out during the game.
And then we get to do it all over again when the teams play at Duke on January 20.
This is just the beginning. We're talking with other programs and coaches to get something going. The IU women's program is definitely one we're talking with/targeting. A few other programs are interested in exploring things too. We have a pretty lofty goal of eventually hosting our own early season men's and women's double header games...we'll get there eventually. While Andy's name is on this specifically, he's definitely all over these efforts. I know he'd be proud to see us pull off January 9 and January 20.
We also just launched the fundraising portion of our efforts this morning. ALS TDI has been pretty big in getting this off the ground and we're happy that any money raised will go to toward their work to discover and develop ALS effective treatments. No pressure, but if anyone is inclined to donate, I'd be forever grateful. Just thought I'd share some good news I'm excited about - thanks for indulging me.
We've had some fits and starts getting things going - we learned way more about the politics and backroom deals that go into scheduling college basketball games than we wanted to - but our first official Hoops4ALS game is the Duke vs Pitt game this coming Tuesday. Both teams will be wearing Hoops4ALS shooting shirts. Both coaching staffs will be wearing Hoops4ALS pins (pins vs actual printed or stitched on logos for coaches was way more of a contentious point than I thought it'd be). There is an in-house video that will play. We're recognizing some local ALS patients and researchers during a TV timeout and the TV commentators are going to give us a shout out during the game.
And then we get to do it all over again when the teams play at Duke on January 20.
This is just the beginning. We're talking with other programs and coaches to get something going. The IU women's program is definitely one we're talking with/targeting. A few other programs are interested in exploring things too. We have a pretty lofty goal of eventually hosting our own early season men's and women's double header games...we'll get there eventually. While Andy's name is on this specifically, he's definitely all over these efforts. I know he'd be proud to see us pull off January 9 and January 20.
We also just launched the fundraising portion of our efforts this morning. ALS TDI has been pretty big in getting this off the ground and we're happy that any money raised will go to toward their work to discover and develop ALS effective treatments. No pressure, but if anyone is inclined to donate, I'd be forever grateful. Just thought I'd share some good news I'm excited about - thanks for indulging me.
