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Granby, Mo. —
Equipped with helmets, students in East Newton High School’s Class of 2011, along with the East Newton School District faculty and administration, participated in a donkey basketball at the high school gym Monday night.
The event included a chicken dinner, concession stand and admission to the game, with proceeds going to Project Graduation 2011. At the end of the night, more than $4,000 was raised for Project Graduation.
“The riders ride the donkeys and they basically play basketball while they are on donkeys,” said Jon Wendlandt, with Dairyland Donkey Ball, LLC, of Chippewa Falls, Wis. “Basically, (it is) the same thing as regular basketball, only there is not dribbling and it’s a little bit more slow paced. We typically don’t score double-digit points on either side… it happens but typically not a high-scoring game.”
Each half of the game lasted eight minutes and, at the end, the winners of the two games played in the championship game – which lasted eight minutes.
Some donkeys ran, some walked and there was even one who bucked its player off.
An estimated 1,000 people attended the event.
“I have never ridden a donkey before,” East Newton High School senior Cara Marks said. “It just seemed like something fun to do, a way to kick off the year.”
Asked how hard was it to stay on the donkey and to shoot the basketball, Marks said, “It was really hard staying on.”
Another student who participated was Stanley Her, an East Newton High School basketball player. He said he tried to shoot a basket, but missed.
“My donkey was stationary, so basically it was mostly my fault,” he said.
Her added it was fun to participate in donkey basketball and said he would do it again if the event were to return.
Seeing the crowd coming out to support the seniors and Project Graduation, Her said it felt pretty good.
Adding to his comments, Marks said, “I think that it is great that they are all helping us.”
During the game, the audience would laugh when they saw the participants try to get on a donkey while the donkey was walking in circles, or when one of the donkeys bucked off its rider or even when seeing the participants pulling on the ropes to move the donkeys down the court.
During intermission, children had the opportunity to ride a donkey on the basketball court.
But the laughs didn’t stop there as three people – East Newton R-6 Superintendent Todd McCrackin, Marks and senior Ashley Williams – had to kiss a donkey as part of the fun. McCrackin kissed the donkey on the mouth and the two others had to kiss the backside of the donkey.
“Well, it didn’t smell very nice,” Marks commented.
Equipped with helmets, students in East Newton High School’s Class of 2011, along with the East Newton School District faculty and administration, participated in a donkey basketball at the high school gym Monday night.
The event included a chicken dinner, concession stand and admission to the game, with proceeds going to Project Graduation 2011. At the end of the night, more than $4,000 was raised for Project Graduation.
“The riders ride the donkeys and they basically play basketball while they are on donkeys,” said Jon Wendlandt, with Dairyland Donkey Ball, LLC, of Chippewa Falls, Wis. “Basically, (it is) the same thing as regular basketball, only there is not dribbling and it’s a little bit more slow paced. We typically don’t score double-digit points on either side… it happens but typically not a high-scoring game.”
Each half of the game lasted eight minutes and, at the end, the winners of the two games played in the championship game – which lasted eight minutes.
Some donkeys ran, some walked and there was even one who bucked its player off.
An estimated 1,000 people attended the event.
“I have never ridden a donkey before,” East Newton High School senior Cara Marks said. “It just seemed like something fun to do, a way to kick off the year.”
Asked how hard was it to stay on the donkey and to shoot the basketball, Marks said, “It was really hard staying on.”
Another student who participated was Stanley Her, an East Newton High School basketball player. He said he tried to shoot a basket, but missed.
“My donkey was stationary, so basically it was mostly my fault,” he said.
Her added it was fun to participate in donkey basketball and said he would do it again if the event were to return.
Seeing the crowd coming out to support the seniors and Project Graduation, Her said it felt pretty good.
Adding to his comments, Marks said, “I think that it is great that they are all helping us.”
During the game, the audience would laugh when they saw the participants try to get on a donkey while the donkey was walking in circles, or when one of the donkeys bucked off its rider or even when seeing the participants pulling on the ropes to move the donkeys down the court.
During intermission, children had the opportunity to ride a donkey on the basketball court.
But the laughs didn’t stop there as three people – East Newton R-6 Superintendent Todd McCrackin, Marks and senior Ashley Williams – had to kiss a donkey as part of the fun. McCrackin kissed the donkey on the mouth and the two others had to kiss the backside of the donkey.
“Well, it didn’t smell very nice,” Marks commented.
