Boosters aim to localize 3-on-3

Over Memorial Day weekend, Thermopolis will be home to the Hot City Summer Slam 3-on-3 basketball tournament. While the Thermopolis-Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce has hosted a 3-on-3 since 1994, this year’s tourney is headed up by the Bobcat Boosters.

The Boosters partnered with the Hot Springs County Recreational Department, Hot Springs County School District Activities Director Brandon Deromedi said, with the rec. department purchasing baskets and the Boosters providing coaches, along with parents and other volunteer help. Any proceeds, he noted, will go to the Boosters and therefore stay in the community.

Toddi Darlington, a former Thermopolis Chamber of Commerce director, stated in an email that the tournament was “once the largest outdoor sporting event in Wyoming and second only in size to an indoor event at the Casper Event Center.” At one point, there was even 480 teams, compared to Casper’s 520.

“It was at that point,” Darlington stated, “that the chamber board decided the event was large enough, based on the work load for the chamber compared to the fundraising revenue generated.”

Darlington further noted at the peak of the tournament all of Thermopolis’ hotels and motels were full, and there was 80 percent occupancy on the campgrounds. “We filled Shoshoni, Worland and Tensleep motels/hotels and had started to overflow to Riverton and Meeteetse.”

The weather only turned bad one year during Darlington’s time as director, with the exception of a few wind squalls in the afternoons that would shut the tournament down for a few hours. “When people would ask what we would do if the weather was bad, we would answer we’ll go to Plan B.” That plan was to “wing it,” as there was no chance to move a tournament of this size.

“It sure was a fun event,” Darlington stated, “and I worked it long enough to see first generation players come back to coach and watch their children play. Our motto during my years as tournament director was, ‘God Loves Basketball and God loves Thermopolis, and God Loves Watching Basketball in Thermopolis.’”

The tournament itself is set up in a “double-elimination style,” Deromedi said, but he hopes each team gets at least three games. Divisions are by age, with: 11 and Up, 12 and Up, 13 and Up, 14 and Up, 15 and Up, 16 and Up, 17 and Up, 18-30, and 30 and Up. Though ages of any team might be a mixed bag, they will play in the division of the oldest member.

For instance, if there is a team of two 11-year-olds and a 13-year-old, they play in the 13 and Up division. Each team can also have two substitutions.

Champions in each division for ages 17 and under will receive basketballs, and champs in the adult divisions will receive shirts.

Speaking to some recent controversy, Deromedi explained a company that used to operate here is working with Casper to put on a tournament there at the same time. He encourages everyone to attend the local event, emphasizing any proceeds will stay local.

The registration deadline for the tournament is May 20, and teams can register via the “Thermopolis Threeonthree” Facebook page. Fliers will also be available at the schools. There will be a team check-in Friday, May 27 at 6 p.m. at the high school, with the tournament scheduled for Saturday, May 28 and Sunday, May 29. Play begins at 9 a.m. each day.

The event will be at the Hot Springs County High School parking lot, with vendors next door at LeRoy Hayes Memorial Stadium.

As of Wednesday, several vendors were already signed up, many of them high school groups. Masonic Malta Lodge No.17 will provide Indian tacos, the cheerleading team will run the Pepsi wagon, foreign language club will have pulled pork tacos, Wyoming Dinosaur Center will have snowcones, speech and debate members will have walking tacos and the robotics team is planning hamburgers, cheeseburgers and similar fare.

With the games and vendors being in the same block, as well as playgrounds in the area, Deromedi said, it also takes away any fear children might have about crossing the street to get to one area or another.

Those interested in being vendors can contact Jacob Smith at the high school, 864-6511, or by email at jsmith@hotsprings1.org.