For more than 10 years, Frank Dalotto has been holding Hot Shot basketball tournaments for children. Dalotto, a 10- year member of the Sunrise Optimist Club, an organization dedicated to serving youths, said children are enthusiastic about life.
Dalotto said he plans to hold the Kylie Pinheiro Memorial Hot Shot Basketball Tournament at 1 p.m. March 8 at the YMCA of Western Monmouth County, 470 East Freehold Road, Freehold Township. Residents of all towns in grades four through nine are welcome to participate in the event.
This year’s tournament will be held in memory of Pinheiro, 18, of the Dayton section of South Brunswick, Middlesex County. Pinheiro died in a 2007 motor vehicle accident. Dalotto said Pinheiro was the daughter of a Sunrise Optimist Club board member.
Dalotto said the Hot Shot tournament is for boys and girls in the fourth through ninth grade and it costs $5 per family to compete. He said all of the money raised will go toward helping children in the community.
Cecilia Yee said she had a great time seeing her daughter, Jessica, win the tournament last year in the fourth- through sixth-grade division.
“We didn’t go to win,” Yee said. “We just went to have a good time, but she ended up winning.”
Yee said she plans to bring Jessica, a student at the Eisenhower Middle School, Freehold Township, back to compete this year in the seventh- through ninth-grade division. She also said she plans to enter her son, Ryan, who is in the fifth grade at Freehold Township’s C. Richard Applegate School.
Victoria Hayes, the winner in the sevenththrough ninth-grade girls division last year, said the Hot Shot tournament offered great competition.
“I’ll be happy if I win again, but there are a lot of good shooters out there. I’ll try my hardest,” said Victoria, who plays on Freehold Township’s Barkalow Middle School basketball team.
Dalotto said that during theHot Shot tournament there will be five spots on the court for players to shoot from. A 12-foot shot will be worth 2 points; a 15-foot shot will be worth 3 points; an 18-foot shot will be worth 4 points; and a 21-foot shot will be worth 5 points.
Contestants will be given one minute to score as many points as they can by taking shots from the different spots on the court. Every participant will receive a T-shirt.
The deadline for submitting an application is Feb. 27. Applications are available at the Web site at www.sunrise-optimist.com and at local schools.
— Alex Sanders