The Middle Georgia State College Knights women’s and
men’s basketball teams took time out of their
schedule on
Friday the 15th to give back to the
community. Bleckley County Elementary held a “Shoot
Hoops Not Drugs” fundraiser that allowed the students in 3rd,
4th, and 5th grades to get time to shoot around, learn some skills,
and get some autographs from the team. Women’s head
coach Anderson Ligon stated, “Our coaches and players look
forward to this fun and very important community service event
every year.”
The event was organized through the Communities in
Schools/Family Connection program which is a non-profit group that
has organized this event for the past 10 years at BCES and in
conjunction with the MGSC basketball teams. The money raised
from the event will be used to help with the after school tutoring
and other programs that benefit the students. The
organization helps keep students on track to graduate from an early
point by providing outside help to students and also the after
school program.
All members of the men’s and women’s teams were
present for the event splitting times between morning and afternoon
groups. The kids were split into six groups when they entered
the gym and players were assigned to each group. They started
with a relay race in which the players were the first leg of the
race and then each student got to dribble down and back. The
kids then went to one of six stations with players and rotated from
station to station shooting free throws, lay-ups, jump shots,
dribbling, and other skills. After the kids had been to every
station they were served snacks by players and then went around to
tables to get autographs. Players also shot around and played
some games during the free time.
The event raised over $7,000 for the programs and had about
480 students participate in its 11th year at BCES. Head
men’s coach Scott Moe said, “It is always a great feeling
to give back to the community, that is why we love going to the
elementary school every year and being a part of the “Shoot
Hoops, Not Drugs” event.”