Still going strong
Spokane Valley residents Dave and Eileen Green spent their first 12 years at Hoopfest mostly as spectators, traipsing downtown sidewalks watching their two sons play.
They decided two summers ago, after their youngest son, Michael, graduated from Central Valley, to team up as court monitor and scorekeeper. But they had to postpone that plan after Michael continued playing.
Finally, they took the plunge last year even though Michael registered again to play. They’re glad they did.
There the Greens were Saturday morning at 7 setting up the scorekeeper’s table and preparing for 20 games by day’s end and a possible 14 games today at their court just east of the Riverside/Howard intersection. Their bracket featured seventh grade co-ed teams.
Dave’s desire to be a court monitor – a sterile term describing a person who is part referee and part peacekeeper – came from watching court monitors not perform their duties over the years.
“It was frustrating at times,” Dave said. “They’d get a game or two behind and not make calls. It can get pretty tough. I chose a division where I’d be calling the game.”
Michael, a junior to be at Western Washington University, is playing with some friends again this weekend. Dave and Eileen hosted a barbeque Friday for them since most of their attention Saturday and today would be on the block between Riverside and Stevens.
The Greens invited a handful of friends from their church, Spokane Valley Nazarene, to tag along as court monitors and scorekeepers in the 18th edition of Hoopfest. Their five courts were side by side in the McDonalds-sponsored section.
“Hoopfest is a weekend that brings families together in a unique way,” Dave said.
Dave and Eileen are big sports fans, but they have sparse athletic backgrounds. Dave, who admits he doesn’t have an athletic bone in his body, didn’t play sports in high school but did participate in intramural football and softball in college. The Greens met back in the late 1970s while attending Oregon State University, and they married in 1980. After graduating, they moved to Spokane where Dave has spent the last 25 years working in the risk management agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
By mid-afternoon, Dave put away the Nike ballcap he received as part of a goodies package from Hoopfest so he could don an OSU Beavers hat. He was especially proud to wear it after the Beavers repeated as NCAA baseball champions.
“We just believe firmly in the Hoopfest weekend,” Eileen said. “We’re a sports family. The atmosphere down here is something that can’t be matched.”
The Greens were joined at Hoopfest by Steve and Terri Wilson, Tim and Liz Lee, Shane and Sarah Falwell and Vic Mayhle and Ashley Beymer.
The friends also are involved in Upward Basketball, a youth league for first through sixth graders that is sponsored by Valley Nazarene and two other Spokane Valley churches.
More than 800 kids played in the league this winter.
“It’s a way for us to give back to Hoopfest because Hoopfest has helped us with basketballs,” said Steve Wilson, the administrative pastor at Valley Nazarene and an NFL official. “We’re all about sportsmanship. It’s not really about winning these games. We’re going to have fun and help (the kids) have fun, too.”
Just as she did last year, Eileen Green taped basketball-theme decorations to her scorekeeper’s table, and she brought a jumbo bag of assorted candy to hand out to the participants.
“Dave got so many positive comments last year about how we handled the court and kept it in control,” Eileen said. “This is something we want to do for many years.”