Sophomore sets sights on bigger, better event
By: Justin Feil
When Chris Chaney came to Princeton University as a freshman, he brought something quite popular from Germany, where he grew up as a military kid.
"I’ve been organizing streetball tournaments since 10th grade," said Chaney, a sophomore at Princeton. "I started off there. I just had the idea to continue that. They’re pretty successful over there, and streetball is even more popular here. And I wanted to do a fundraiser, so it’s worked out."
Chaney organized the first annual Princeton Streetball Tournament last year, and the event drew a modest 21 teams and impressively raised $1,000 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
"There was a lot of stuff going on on campus that day," Chaney said. "Also it was a night event. This year, it’s a day event so you can still go to parties or the movies after. We’re hoping to get 100 teams this year."
On-line registration at www.princeton-streetball.com began last weekend for the Second Annual 3v3 Charity Streetball Tournament that will be held 2 p.m. April 16 in Dillon Gymnasium on the Princeton University campus. Teams, requiring at least three and no more than four players at least 18 years old, pay $30 to enter and large cash prizes will be distributed to the winners in three categories men’s competitive, men’s recreational and women’s. After April 8, the fee is $50 to register. The tournament is open to all, not just university students.
"It’s open to everyone," Chaney said. "It’s open to the Princeton-Trenton-Newark communities. Admission is free. We’ve been able to get some world-famous streetball players to come. We’ll have a DJ. It should be a nice, fun event."
"We had some really good players last year," Chaney added. "We had two divisions. A team from Princeton Seminary won the men’s elite. And a team from Princeton won the men’s competitive division. This year, we have a women’s league as well. We hope some women’s teams will sign up. In the end, we only had one (women’s) team sign up last year."
Everything about this year is expected to be bigger and better from the teams to the sponsorship that includes prizes from the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets to the special guests. On-hand will be announcer legend Al Cash, who’s announced for such events as the Entertainer’s Basketball Classic, and DJ Skeet Dawg will add some sound to the atmosphere. Finally, Tim "Headache" Gittens and Tyrone "Alimoe" Evans, two streetball legends from New York’s Rucker Park, are scheduled to appear. The two have been featured on the popular And1 mix tape, but entrants don’t have to worry about them going off with the top prizes. They are there to entertain.
"They’re both really well known," Chaney said. "They’re considered among the best known in the world. I’m really excited that we got them. Those guys are the real deal.
"They’ll play in our streetball all-star game. They will play with the game with the best players from the tournament. They’ll show off and do some tricks."
Chaney has secured sponsorship from such companies as Motorola, and the PU on-campus undergraduate group, the Black Men’s Awareness Group, is a feature sponsor that will help organize and run the tournament. This year, the support is more widespread from the university.
"We reached out to more student group organizations," Chaney noted. "It’s co-sponsored by 25 other student organizations. We’re trying to get everyone involved. We wanted to make it a big Princeton event. The effort of reaching out is a lot higher this year. We want to raise more money."
After raising money for Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation last spring, all proceeds from this year’s event go to American Sickle Cell Anemia Association and the Robert Wood Johnson Hospital.
"This year, we were thinking about giving it to different organizations," Chaney said. "We talked to the director of public affairs on campus and she had some ideas. They are often overlooked. They’re not as prominent as cancer, so we wanted to make an effort to support them as well."
For Chaney, this is his fourth year planning such an event. Each year, he’s gotten a little better at putting it together. This year, he has been more aggressive in garnering support for and publicizing the event. As the event draws closer, the sociology major grows more excited thinking about, what for him, has always been a successful and fun way to put on a fundraiser.
"I’ve basically been playing streetball or basketball since I could think," said Chaney, who is also looking into starting a streetball apparel company. "I was president of my student government and I found they had different streetball tournaments organized by companies. So I started off saying, ‘I can do one too.’
"It’s gotten more and more professional. This year, there are high-class professional flyers. If you look at the whole organizational side, with a slam dunk contest, all-star game and the two streetball players, it’s steadily going up. Just the experience has helped me secure corporate sponsorship and get people in the Princeton community involved."
And when Chris Chaney dreams, he dreams of making the event something even bigger over the next two years as he completes his undergraduate education at Princeton University.
"It’s like my baby," he said. "If you just look at what we accomplished last year and what we’re about to accomplish, it’s such a big step. The goal is to make it a huge New Jersey event."
To register to be a part of the Second Annual 3v3 Charity Streetball Tournament, visit www.princeton-streetball.com.