SPOKANE, Wash. — A handful of kids were able to compete in this year's Hoopfest and made memories they'll cherish for a lifetime.
"Really fun! I like to play hoop a lot," said eight-year old Liam Almogela.
Liam was one of 72 kids from the Spokane community that were able to participate in this year's Hoopfest with a little help from MultiCare. He was on one of 18 teams that the health care provider sponsored to help give kids an opportunity to experience the one of a kind weekend.
"This was our first year playing. We came in blind, not knowing, so to be able to be with a program that orchestrated that, for us, is everything. A lot of our teams that were able to get sponsored by MultiCare, sometimes don't have the means to do this. So, for us to be able to play through MultiCare has been a blessing," said Liam's father Justin Almogela.
With MultiCare's sponsorship, the health care provider covered teams registration fees, provided some kids with shoes and team jerseys.
"Yeah, we were matching blue! It was really cool! We put the names on the back of the jerseys. It was a lot of fun. And I mean, we came up in style. It was it was beautiful. I was very, very humbled by that," said Justin Almogela.
While the kids had a blast, so did their parents.
"Yeah, I was coaching. It was it was a lot of fun! It was so much fun. It was it was nerve wracking. I didn't know what I was doing," said Justin Almogela.
Liam's team didn't quite make the championship, but that's not what the weekend is all about.
"We lost by one. If we had a couple more seconds, we could have maybe made it but winning is winning and losing is losing. We got to learn either way. So you know, it's it was a good experience for all of us and my boys," said Justin Almogela.
Thanks to the generosity of others, the Almogela's have found a newfound passion.
"We'll be back next year," said Justin Almogela. "Balling Buddies, we'll be back next year!"
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.