Snowstorm Becomes a Blessing in Disguise for the Needy
Upper Scioto Valley and Parkway High
Schools transform basketball extravaganza into charitable
evening
By Brad Pettiford, OHSAA sports
information intern
Feb. 24, 2010
When life hands
you lemons, make lemonade…and then give the lemonade to people
who are thirstier than you.
That’s
basically the moral of the story that played out during the
recently rescheduled girls’ and boys’ basketball games between
Upper Scioto Valley High School and Parkway High School in
northwest Ohio.
A
highly-anticipated day of basketball was originally scheduled
for Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010 between these two schools in the form
of a quadruple-header. The JV girls’ game was scheduled for 2:30
p.m., to be followed by the JV boys at 4:00 p.m., varsity girls
at 6:00 p.m., and the varsity boys game at 7:30 p.m.
Then it snowed,
a lot.
The poor
weather conditions caused the games to be cancelled, with the JV
and varsity girls’ games being rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 8,
and the JV and varsity boys’ games being rescheduled for Monday,
Feb. 15.
Even though the
games were made up, the cancellation of the quadruple-header
must have been disappointing for the administration, fans, and
students alike.
The unfortunate
turn of events did not prevent Upper Scioto Valley Principal
Craig Hurley and Athletic Director Marty Riggs from making the
most of the rescheduled games. Together, they came up with the
idea to turn the make-up dates into “non-ticket sales” games. In
lieu of ticket sales, there was a donation basket set up in the
gymnasium entrance, in which fans and students of both schools
were asked to make donations as they entered. All the money
that was collected was dedicated to the Haiti Relief Efforts.
While Upper
Scioto Valley missed the flair and excitement of hosting the
quadruple-header basketball extravaganza, Mr. Riggs said that
they still had plenty to be excited about.
“We were able
to do something positive, make people and players feel good
about themselves, and play two make-up basketball games due to
the snow cancellations,” he said. “With the help of our girls
and boys JV and varsity teams,
we were able to come together for this worthwhile cause. I was
very impressed by both the Upper Scioto
Valley community and individuals from
Parkway High School."
Riggs proudly
announced that the generosity of all those people in attendance
amounted to total collection of $816.25.
That’s worth a
lot of lemonade.
