SPOKANE, Wash. — The 31st annual Hoopfest basketball tournament featured thousands of basketball players, but one Hoopfest team gained quite a lot of attention.
The Halfwits are this year’s oldest team with a combined age of 211. Jennifer Montgomery is the captain of the team and said her team is proving that age is just a number.
“When we signed up, we got an email from the organizers saying that we did not actually have anyone else in our bracket,” Montgomery said. “You're never too old to do something new. You're just not. And if you feel like, 'Let's go play in Hoopfest,' you should go play in Hoopfest."
Nancy Moyer is the team's oldest player, turning 89 years old next month. At her age, she's still making buckets.
“It just makes me feel really good that I can get out and have some fun," Moyer said.
With more than 6,000 teams and 16,000 players this year, some teams have more competitors than others. But for Karr Kemp, she's just in it to have fun.
“With no experience in basketball, people have been so friendly, so fun," Kemp said.
The halfwits don’t only make hoops; they wear them, too.
“Folks have been really, really amused by our hoops," Montgomery said. "And we've had supporters, people we didn't know, come and root for our team.”
Montgomery and her team were unfortunately eliminated, but she said she could care less.
"We just had a wonderful time playing," she said. "The sportsmanship, or the sports woman-ship in this case was just fantastic.”
Expect the Halfwits to be back next year to prove that you can do anything, no matter how old you are.
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