Kaylyn Easterly recently traveled to the regional Hoop Shoot competition in Washington State, after being named the Alaska Hoop Shoot champion late last year among all eight to nine-year old female contestants.
Wrangell fourth-grader Kaylyn Easterly traveled to Washington state earlier this month to participate in the Hoop Shoot regional competition.
The Hoop Shoot is an annual contest put on by the National Elks Foundation. Participants - boys and girls ages 8 to 13 - have to shoot 25 free throws. Those who sink the most baskets win and move on from a local contest, to regionals and onto the national competition.
Easterly won Wrangell’s Hoop Shoot late last year among the eight-and nine-year-old girl contestants. She sank 14 out of the 25 free throws, making her the top scorer in the state of Alaska among all the girl competitors in her age group.
She actually made 15 of her shots in Wrangell, but the rules of the competition state a contestant cannot dribble the ball more than four times before shooting. Easterly dribbled five times before one of her free throws.
Still, winning a top spot in the state of Alaska and being able to continue on to the regional competition was exciting, Easterly said.
“It felt pretty good,” she said.
Easterly began playing basketball just months before participating in the Hoop Shoot. Her parents were proud of their daughter for the accomplishment.
“We were ecstatic,” said Easterly’s mother Danielle. “[It was her] first time doing basketball…and then all the sudden she’s the state Hoop Shoot champ!”
The regional Hoop Shoot competition was held March 3 at Clark College in Vancouver, Wash. There, Easterly competed against the eight-and nine-year-old female state Hoop Shoot winners from Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
At the regional competition, Easterly placed fourth, sinking 16 of her 25 free throws. The winner sank 19.
“So I wasn’t that far behind,” Easterly said.
Local Elks Hoop Shoot Director Jeff Jabusch helped Easterly prepare for the regional competition. Typically, contestants shoot worse at the regional competition than they did in their hometown because of the increase of pressure and number of people watching, Jabusch said.
That wasn’t the case for Easterly who made two more shots in Vancouver than she did in Wrangell.
“She actually did better,” Jabusch said.
Easterly admits it was scary shooting her free throws in a gym full of people watching her.
However, Jabusch’s coaching helped Easterly deal with that pressure.
“He was very helpful in getting her prepared,” Danielle said.
Approximately 18 Elks lodges throughout Alaska participate in the Hoop Shoot, Jabusch said.
About a dozen contestants from Wrangell have gone on to compete at the regional Hoop Shoot competition, he said, but none have gone on to compete at the national competition.
Before Easterly, Jabusch said the last time a Wrangellite qualified for the regionals was about five years ago.
This year’s national Hoop Shoot takes place in Springfield, Mass. on April 28.
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