2019-2020 Introduction & Take ALS Yard 3-ON-3 Basketball Tournament

Hi, my name is John Braun and I want to introduce myself as the Take ALS Yard Chairman for the 2019-2020 season. I am both honored and humbled to represent our team for such an important cause. Since my freshman year, I have watched great leaders take responsibility of this program and I knew that I wanted to make a difference as well. The team is very excited to raise funds for Take ALS Yard this year and we have decided to implement some new ideas. To date, we have raised over $70,000 and are looking forward to continuing to raise money to reach our eventual goal of $100,000.

In an effort to involve more participants in our philanthropy, we hosted our first Take ALS Yard 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament on November, 17th in the Hauser Field House. The event was a tremendous success thanks to the students who volunteered their time to play. All in, we had a total of 54 participants, divided amongst 16 different teams. Through our efforts, we were able to raise nearly $700 dollars for Project ALS. I cannot thank my teammates enough for the support that I received during the preparation of the event. I would also like to thank Corey Jewart, Athletic Communications Director for publicizing the event. Lastly, I would like to thank Coach Campo and Coach Perry for their support throughout the entire process.

The tournament itself consisted of single-elimination, first-to 15 games with a time limit of 20 minutes. Teams were allowed to register with a maximum of four players, subbing the extra player when needed during a stop-of-play. Initial matchups of the tournament were determined randomly by a bracket generator. Points were scored by 1s and 2s and the games were called by volunteer referees. We were able to play four games at once, which made the tournament move along quickly. Overall, the games ran smoothy and were extremely competitive.

The Fighting Volks taking on Sutton Farms

Team RJs taking on Team Run at Him!

After many close games and heart-breaking losses, we finally arrived at the championship. The two teams that faced off in the championship were ‘Chop’ and ‘Junior Varsity’. Instead of playing a game to 15, these teams played a game to 21 with no time restrictions. In the end, ‘Chop’ (James Mullen ’20, Anders Spittal ’20, Harrison Rottman ’20 and Ken Barnes ’20) came out on top. ‘Chop’ included our very own teammate Dominick Gasparro ’20 as team manager. Congratulations to the guys who received a spectacular trophy and more importantly an $85 Blue and Gray, Bar & Grille gift card.

The Champions: (from left to right) Dominick Gasparro, Harrison Rottman, James Mullen, Anders Spittal

Group photo of all the participants and volunteers of the tournament

We will be having our 8^th annual Take ALS Yard Day in the spring and it will provide us with another opportunity to raise money and awareness for ALS research in honor of Robert Borman and Tommy Kirchhoff for the Borman and Kirchhoff families.

I would like to extend one final thank you to everyone who made this event possible. The Gettysburg College Baseball Team was honored to represent Project ALS in our event.

To learn more about Project ALS and donate to their efforts please visit Our Donation Page. With your continued support, we can work together to “Take ALS Yard”.