3 on 3 basketball tournament raises $1,500 for Do Better, Be Better Foundation

Student Senate raised $1,500 for the Do Better, Be Better Foundation from the 3 on 3 basketball tournament in April.

Starting on April 9, the Do Better Be Better Basketball Tournament was kicked off and led by junior James Peng together with the rest of the Student Senate. For the remainder of that week, and on Wednesday, April 16, students and teachers competed against each other on 20 teams in addition to a massive turnout by student fans. 

Peng said he and his team were happy to see such a big audience attend. “I expected a decent turnout, but that consistency that the tournament had was really awesome to see. I wouldn’t say we were surprised, but we were still really happy with how things went. It was just so much fun with enthusiasm all around.”

To watch the games, students paid $1 for each day of the tournament. Players, when entering the competition also had to pay $5 each in order to participate. All the money collected from fans and players was donated to the Do Better, Be Better Foundation, a non-profit organization with the goal of helping young people by giving them much needed scholarships. 

Peng said, “I wanted something that would get the school more engaged, something fun to do, something that would be enjoyable to organize and something that would genuinely raise money for a good cause like Do Better Be Better. This tournament satisfied all of those criteria.”

The 3 v 3 champions were the Dream Team consisting of social studies teacher Justin Tegrotenhuis; or, as known by his students, Mr. TG; social studies teacher BenWolgemuth; junior Jaydon Kimbrough and senior Liam O’Neil. 

In the future, Peng said he would love to do another tournament and that he has “flirted with the idea of some other tournaments like pickleball or something, but time will tell. For now, I would just like to successfully repeat this tournament before overloading ourselves.”

Player Names and Teams:

Big Guards:

Ben Johnson, Josh Umemenzie, Jack Thompson, and James Peng

3 Kings:

Brendan Poots, Colin Kaeppel, and Cooper Ericson

Team Takeover:

Mr. Benitez, Mokki Andrike, Mr. Wilkinson, and AJ Austin

Le Ballerz:

Sam Ohaka, Jeremiah, and Owen Hatcher

Future Tornadoes:

Kinnick Gallagher, Brody Hanna, and Lukas Haller

Team Luke:

Tyler Hermansen, Roman Tailber, Trey Reuter, and Luke Appenzeller

No Limit Ballers:

John Gronowski, Hunter Stover (Steve), Anuj Vedanayagam, and Isaiah Hoth

TEAM MP:

Jack Graham, Shawn Slade, Kaleb Theisen, and Tyson Cunningham

Dream Team:

Mr. Tegrotenhuis, Mr. Wolgemuth, Jaydon Kimbrough, and Liam O’Neil

Team Elite:

Drake Greene, Ryne Kies, Miles Bensema, and Josh Schipper

The Magicians:

Asher Meyer, William Gerdes, Shota Hari, and Francis Bryan

The Lush Swishers:

Coach: Anna Gerdes. Players: Evan Hemmer, Tyler Sanders, and Carson Foxen

Shot Takers:

Jonah Veatch, Caden Sugden, and Alex Weigel

Larry Bird:

Jacob Krantz, Ben Nichols, Pete Crozier, and Max Oliver

Iron Sharpens Iron:

Mr. Bolt, Mr. Teply, Mr. Elser, and Mr. Remmert

Power Rangers:

Blake Jones, Jonah Leanord, and Gabe Showalter

Team BBG (Big Baller Girls):

Mattie Dieken, Emma Jacobs, Sydney Runyan, and Kiera Gleason