Hoops 4 Hope Hosts Its Second Annual “East End 3’s” 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament

The second annual Hoops 4 Hope “East End 3’s” 3-on-3 basketball tournament was a success with nearly 20 teams participating on Saturday at Sportime Amagansett to support the organization’s mission of helping underserved communities in Cape Town, South Africa, and Harare, Zimbabwe. Proceeds help to provide young people in those two cities with the fundamentals and opportunities necessary to be happy, healthy and safe both emotionally and physically.

The H4H model and curriculum are based on the seven tools of an ubuntu champion, which are focus, sense of humor, self-awareness, responsibility, integrity, self-esteem and teamwork, which may have been driven home even more so at the organization’s after party, held the following evening at Sagaponack Farm Distillery.

H4H Executive Director and co-founder Anthony Allison asked everyone at the party to turn to the next person and share one of the most influential times in athletics that they can recall. Mark Crandall, co-founder along with H4H, said a man shared with him when his father would take him into the Canadian wilderness when he was a child where he would create an obstacle course climbing up steep inclines and crossing rivers. Even though the man would become a college basketball player, Crandall said, the man harkened back to time when he was young and being able to spend time with his family.

Then Allison drove the point of H4H home to those in attendance to imagine not having those types of memories. It’s something that many people, including children, don’t have the luxury of having.

“Those kids are working with and living in very traumatic scenarios, in poverty and violence-ridden areas where just picking up a basketball and playing can be super challenging, which is why our coaches who are there are some of the very best in the world,” Crandall explained.

He reiterated how important it was to have Ross School students visit some of those areas this year to see everything firsthand.

“Very few people get to see that,” Crandall said. “And they got to see our coaches guide them in sport and in life skills. I think everyone really understood the value of what we’re trying to do. And, of course, it all came down to ubuntu and how kids here in East Hampton forget that they have camps out here, and great schools and Little League, that are done very much by volunteers which is a little bit of a luxury for them. You need people to have a little bit of extra time to be able to do those things, which is why our programs are so important for those families that we serve, so their kids can be kids.”

The organizers of this year’s tournament were thrown a bit of curveball when, less than a week go, its host, East Hampton High School, said it may not be able to hold it. The school had resurfaced and painted its basketball court, and it wasn’t going to dry in time for the tournament. Thankfully, Crandall had a solid backup plan to move it to Sportime Amagansett, where he runs one of his own camps and the venue turned out to work out really well.

“If anything, it turned out to be a little blessing in disguise, because it was a little more of an intimate setting,” he said. “It was such a hot day, and they’ve got really great AC. It turned out to be an amazing day. We were really happy with the turnout.”

There were two divisions once again — a youth side for those ages 13-17, and an adult bracket for those 18 and older. Team Rumson, out of Rumson, New Jersey, which included Theo Carlston, Matt Carroll and Andrew Goods, won the adult bracket. Team LED, which was Eli Floyd, Dylan Hirsch, Archie Hoffman and Luke Schnall, won the youth bracket. Both teams were awarded prizes.

There was also a free throw shooting contest that Cameron Gurney of Amagansett, a former teammate of Crandall’s from their days with East Hampton boys basketball, won by sinking 39 of 50 shots. He won what was one of the most sought-after prizes of the day, a free slice of pizza every day for a year from Fini’s Pizza.

Ed Burns, the actor and filmmaker, once again took part in the tournament. Longtime NBA photographer Nat Butler also came down, joining in the support of the H4H. But a name that might be not so familiar to people is the one that stood out the most for Crandall. Earl Phillips, a Toronto native, has been a longtime fan of H4H and its mission, being a native of South Africa. Phillips made the trek from Toronto to Sagaponack to take part in the after party.

“He’s always been impressed by our work and wanted to be a part of our family. And it meant a lot to us that he made it all the way down here,” Crandall said.

More information on Hoops 4 Hope can be found at hoops4hope.org.