YHS
students win - but burros are stars
— Sierra Star
Photos/Lacey Rees
Carol Calderwood (front with ball) and Michelle Boland, both
Yosemite High School teachers, have burro-communication problems while playing
Donkey Basketball Monday night. Hoping to get their hands on the ball are
students Jeff Goldman and Amber Stevenson and Principal Steve Raupp.
— Sierra Star
Photos/Lacey Rees
Donkey Basketball held tournament on Monday
Four basketball teams met more than their match Monday night
as Yosemite High School’s Future Farmers of America sponsored a Donkey
Basketball mini-tournament.
The four teams — the teachers, the students, Yosemite Lumber
and H&L Lumber — and eight burros paired up to play 10-minute games. In the
end the students were victorious over Yosemite Lumber, 6-4, to win the
tournament.
The contest to see which school class had the most attending
in the audience went to Mary Nelson’s Bass Lake Elementary class. They got
$100.
The rules were simple. Make a basket, get a point — but the
baskets sunk and the passes made could only be executed from the back of a
burro.
Wearing their “Air Donks,” non-skid bootie shoes which protected
the gym floor, the donkeys, showing little emotion, appeared to ultimately
triumph.
With only a side step here and a quick trot there, they were
able to either unseat their riders or prevent them from remounting.
If a ball was dropped, their refusal to budge made it
difficult indeed for a rider to retrieve a ball and still hold the reins.
More than one rider, having just mounted the burro,
immediately rolled off the other side, as the spectators laughed.
The first game was between the YHS students and the
teachers, with the students winning, 4-2.
Then H&L and Yosemite Lumber took the court with
Yosemite prevailing 6-2.
The students beat Yosemite Lumber for the championship, and
H&L out shot the teachers 8-4 for the consolation.
The event is an annual fundraiser for FFA.