Hoopfest has become a staple for Lincoln students, being a tradition since 2014.
This Lincoln sporting event is a basketball tournament where students of all grades are able to participate. Students form teams and compete in front of the student body during lunch time. Newcomers and former players will compete with each other in order to claim the title of winner.
Hoopfest has remained largely uninterrupted, other than in 2019 when a fight broke out during a match, and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the competition has remained, and this year has been no different. Twenty teams have been competing in a single elimination tournament to decide the best hoopers at Lincoln.
Senior Douglas Urquhart who plays for Harper’s Jalapẽnos along side Harper Barnett, Declan McCurdy, Lucas Anderson, Luke Northrupt, and Isaac Northrupt, has played in Hoopfest before, but has never won. His last team the Clumsy Horses saw an unfortunate early exit.
“We lost [in the] second round,” said Urquhart. “I was sad, because I thought we had a good chance then.”
But the Jalapẽnos hope to do better at this year’s Hoopfest.
“My friends and I have practiced a bit and are hopefully better, we’re gonna be fire this year.” said Urquhart.
Junior Aidan Schwartz who plays on Finn and em, remembers how a lack of motivation caused his team to fail in past Hoopfests.
“I participated in Hoopfest my freshman and sophomore year here. We got whooped,” said Schwartz. “We sucked and it was because we didn’t want it enough.”
Schwartz believes in his team this time, because of the amount of work they’ve put in. Schwartz is expecting to win.
“My expectations this time is a championship. We’ve all been studying the play styles of roll players from the 2010s and we’re very ready,” said Schwartz.
With the amount of exciting talent, inspiring motivation and strong lineups, this Hoopfest is looking to be one of the best yet.
