Chi-Omega hosted a charity basketball tournament, Swishes for Wishes, on Saturday, March 28.
Kim Sheelhan, nursing junior and member of Chi-Omega, said the tournament coincides with Wish Week to raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation.
“Swishes for Wishes is a fundraiser for the Make a Wish Foundation, which one of the girls has actually been trained and is going to get to grant a wish coming up soon,” Sheelhan said. “I’ve been doing this for three years now, but I think we have been doing this for almost five years now.”
Sheelhan said she was impressed with the amount of players competing in the tournament which started in the morning and didn’t end until late in the evening.
“We started advertising for it with flyers back in the second week this semester. It’s been a great turnout this year. There are 46 teams of three or more here that signed up and actually showed up,” Sheelhan said.
Nik Bolig, political science sophomore, said he enjoys the camaraderie at recreational sports events like Swishes for Wishes.
“I’ve known about this tournament since they announced that they were officially doing it this year. My team and I didn’t practice much other than a few scrimmages, but we wanted to help out,” Bolig said. “I enjoy going to these events where there is Greek bonding, Greek community activities, and an opportunity for our brothers to all hang out.”
Zach Davis, history sophomore, and his teammate Cooper Tisdale, pre-pharmacy freshman, whose team placed second in the tournament, said they got their team’s peculiar name from a holiday movie classic.
“Our team name is Sticky Bandits,” Davis says. “We got it from ‘Home Alone,’ ” Tisdale jumps in.
Andre Shaw, graduate assistant coach and player on the winning team tournament, said his team’s name, the Fab 5, was inspired by a famous group of Michigan State basketball players.
“There were five freshman players on the team at one point, who changed the game of basketball for them and called themselves the Fab 5, which is where we got our name. There were five of us originally, but only four of us could be here today, as one of us had to work last minute,” Shaw said after winning the championship game against the Sticky Bandits, 27-20.
Photos by Francisco Martinez and Rachel Johnson