47°F
weather icon Clear

Donkey Basketball fundraiser returns to the high school

Rosemary Clarke Middle School just reported that local drug stores are running low on liniment and pain killers. Yes, the pucker factor just went up as an influx of asses are scheduled to come to town as Pahrump prepares for the second annual upcoming Donkey Basketball Game.

The event will be sponsored by Rosemary Clarke Middle School and Pahrump Valley High School. The game will be held on March 7 at 6 p.m. at the Pahrump Valley High School gymnasium located at 501 E. Calvada Blvd.

Participating teams will be Rosemary Clarke Middle School administration and staff, Pahrump Valley High School administration and staff, Pahrump Valley High School senior class students, Pahrump Elementary Schools team, Nye County Transportation and District Office team, Nye County Sheriff’s and Juvenile Probation team, Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue and a Pahrump business team representing several local businesses.

Donkey Sports, Inc. of Entiat, Washington will be providing the donkeys and officials. Donkey Sports officially will be strictly enforcing the rules against players abusing the donkeys in any way. However, there are no such rules applied to the donkeys abusing their riders!

In the game, people ride the donkeys and try to shoot a basketball into a hoop, hence the name donkey basketball. The game has been around for ages and is popular with schools as a fundraiser. The basic rules for donkey basketball are simple. Each team has five players. Four of those players are mounted on donkeys. The two un-mounted players are centers and are forbidden from leaving center court. The only time they can leave is when the other team scores. At that time, the centers can throw the ball to a mounted teammate.

The idea to bring Donkey basketball to town is the brainchild of Principal Tim Wombaker at Rosemary Clarke.

“When I was teaching up north at Silver Springs, I was the athletic director/coach. It was a small community like Amargosa. I was an elementary schoolteacher and we did it up there. It was a huge success and a ton of fun.

“It got the community involved, and everyone came out. The donkeys packed the gym. It was a great time. I came out here, and we talked about doing it out here,” Wombaker said.

Last year’s game the event attracted close to 600 people and the total raised was $2,391.54.

“The money raised will go into a school activity account,” said Wombaker, “and we will be splitting the profits with the high school.”

The school activity account for Rosemary Clarke funds special activities for students, field trips and special rewards.

Wombaker said the kids have responded to the rewards program.

“The Nugget Bowl second quarter rewards were a huge success with 605 students attending this year, compared to 492 last year. To qualify for a reward trip students must not have any discipline records, failing grades or excessive truancies. Our big reward trip is at the end of the year when students get an entire day at Treasures RV Resort for bowling, swimming, movies and lunch. We also offer prizes for CRT Testing. Our reward/incentive system is definitely paying off for us as we see improvements in attendance, grades and discipline,” he said.

Wombaker believes he is bringing the community together for some fun with the donkey basketball. Last year he said it was not about winning, but all about being there to raise money for the kids.

“It is not all about us collecting the money, it is about getting everyone out and having a good time. We wanted to get the community involved a bit, so we tried to get some businesses and some elementary schools involved. The middle school has a team, the high school has a team, there is a high school student team. It will bring all entities, family members, fellow students to watch. All four elementary schools will combine to have a team too,” he said.

Advance tickets will go on sale Feb. 24 at Rosemary Clarke Middle School, Pahrump Valley High School and Floyd Elementary School. Advance ticket prices are $8 for adults, $6 for students 7th-12th grade, $4 for children K-6th grade, preschoolers are free. Tickets at the door (if any remaining) will be $9, $7 and $5.

For more information contact the Tournament Coordinator Sherry Allison at Rosemary Clarke Middle School 775-727-5546, extension 2103 or sallison@nye.k12.nv.us

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
Trojans home run isn’t enough for win

A home run from Madison Rodriguez (6) wasn’t enough for the Pahrump Valley softball team to beat the Sports Leadership & Management (SLAM) Bulls in a conference game on Wednesday.

SOFTBALL: Trojans top Moapa, fall to Needles

The Trojans softball team suffered their first loss this season against a school from a neighboring state on Monday, but it also added a win in a weekend game against Moapa Valley (2-1) at home.

Muckers baseball off to 1-3 start this season

By the end of the weekend, the Tonopah Muckers had played four games, where they scored over 17 runs.

Muckers start softball season 1-3

Tonopah softball started their season over the weekend with four games on Friday and Saturday.

RODEO 2024: Here are the winners

The Nevada State High School Rodeo was in Pahrump last weekend where junior and senior high school students from around the state came to compete after their winter break.

Trojans girls basketball moves on to the quarterfinals

After Avery Moore stole a pass from the Sports Leadership and Management (SLAM) girls basketball team she passed the ball to Paris Coleman who ran up and scored the team’s fourth two-pointer in less than two minutes.

Pastor opens boxing gym for Pahrump youth

Pastor Ruben Bajo, of Full Armor of God Ministries in Pahrump told the Pahrump Valley Times that decades ago the sport of boxing saved his life and kept him off the streets of Los Angeles.

Trojans struggle in nail-biting 4th quarter against Chaparral

It was all up to No. 14 Daxton Palmisano from the Pahrump Valley boys basketball team with less than 10 seconds on the clock to score a three-pointer to get the Trojans into overtime in a hard-fought game on Wednesday.