Hawaii is on hold for a Bluff City, Tenn., AAU girls basketball team that was hoping to be able to participate in a tournament next month on the Big Island.
Crusaders director Mary Hudak-Collins said Thursday that she had to inform the tournament organizers that the team would be unable to accept its invitation due to a lack of funding for the trip.
“We had talked and talked to a number of businesses and the girls had raised some money, but not near enough to get to be able to go,” she said.
Through a number of parents chipping in extra money and giving up their spots on the trip, Hudak-Collins said the estimated cost to send the team of sixth- and seventh-grade girls was lowered to under $30,000 from an original fund-raising goal of $46,000.
Even that lesser amount, though, proved to be beyond reach as the Crusaders got plenty of support from the community, but couldn’t get a big corporate donation.
But the team isn’t giving up hope on Hawaii entirely.
Hudak-Collins said the World Youth Basketball Tournament has assured the team that its invitation will remain open for 2011. The organization also supports a Christmas tournament in Hawaii that might be a possibility for the Crusaders.
“We’re going to go ahead and keep on talking to businesses,” Hudak-Collins said.
The team’s hopes for making it to Hawaii this summer suffered a major setback when a golf tournament that was supposed to take place on July 12 to generate funds for the trip was rained out after a limited number of people were able to sign up for the weekday event.
Although not giving up hope until she had to officially decline the invitation Thursday, Hudak-Collins said she tried to warn the girls that Hawaii likely wasn’t going to happen when the balance sheet was still looking grim earlier in the week.
“I sort of was trying to break the ice to them,” she said. “I think they still had their fingers crossed.”
She said her husband, Joel, the team’s coach, planned to give the Crusaders the official disheartening news later Thursday night at practice.
Despite the disappointment of being unable to make the trip this summer, the team already has additional fund-raisers in place to keep working toward attending the 2011 tournament.
The Crusaders will hold a pancake breakfast at Fatz in Bristol on Aug. 14 from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and the golf tournament has been rescheduled for March 12, 2011. For more information on either event, contact Hudak-Collins at (423) 612-1438.
At the pancake breakfast, the Crusaders will also be collecting food for a drive that was originally scheduled to be held in conjunction with the July 12 golf fund-raiser.
“They have to be willing to do something to give back,” Hudak-Collins said.
nhubbard@bristolnews.com | Twitter: @Hubbard_BHCSprt | (276) 645-2543
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