Basketball Tournament to Raise Funds for FLHS Academy of Finance

The (GFLCC) is holding its second annual 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament and Fundraiser next weekend to raise money for the Academy of Finance (AOF).

“It’s part of the Chamber’s initiative to support the community,” said program and event coordinator Margaret Maclay of the GFLCC. “The Academy of Finance is an organization that a lot of our board members and members are involved with, and we love that arm of education at the high school.”

The basketball tournament is held once a year in the Fort Lee High School gymnasium. It’s a double-elimination tournament made up of teams of community businesses, professional services, police and firemen and students.

Maclay described the event as a “good, old-fashioned, knock-‘em-down basketball tournament that results in raising money for transportation costs for the Academy of Finance.”

Money raised also funds an internship for an 11th grade AOF student, which is one of the requirements of the program, she said.

“They have to have an internship during the summer between their junior and senior year,” Maclay explained. “[The AOF] has a student committee, so they’ve been quite involved. They’ve been led by Ji Hoon Son, who was the intern last summer in the Chamber—whoever is the intern in the summer becomes the student chair of basketball the following spring; we’ve now sort of started that tradition—he was responsible for pulling together teams and getting student support.”

Maclay said that thanks to Ji Hoon and the other students he worked with, there could be some faculty teams competing in the tournament this year, and there will definitely be a couple of student teams.

“We’re anticipating 16 teams [total], and we know that there are some teams that are coming back to fight for the trophies,” Maclay said. “We are still looking for teams; we don’t have 16 teams yet, but we had walk-ins last year.”

With support from the AOF students, a Chamber of Commerce Committee, comprised of Doug Feltman, Dianna Capron, Nancy Stern, Maclay and office manager Liz Crawford, is organizing the event this year.

Former Chamber president Craig Weinstein, along with his wife, Renee, runs the actual tournament, keeping time and scores, Maclay said.

“He takes a leadership role in being sort of the tournament director,” she said.

The event sponsors this year are Bank of New Jersey and Weiss Reality, “and then we have a big list of supporting sponsors and donors who are supporting the cause and getting some publicity as a result,” according to Maclay, with their names mentioned on tournament t-shirts and banners.

“One of the things that I think is really awesome is how the businesses in the community really step up to the plate for stuff like this,” she said. “They’re incredibly supportive. They throw teams together; it’s really pretty neat. It brings all different groups together.”

Last year's tournament was a great success, as .

The 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament and Fundraiser is Saturday, April 21, starting at 9:30 a.m. in the Fort Lee High School gymnasium. Each team gets to play at least two games in the double-elimination tournament. The festivities should wrap up around 3 p.m., when this year’s champion will be crowned. The registration fee is $50 for adult teams and $25 for student teams of three to five players.

For more information, to register a team or make a donation, visit the GFLCC online, or call them at 201-944-7575.