HELENA — Though rivalries are heated in the Frontier Conference, the league’s basketball teams put aside their differences during the off season for a good purpose.
The third annual “Hoops for a Cause” youth clinic hits Carroll College on Saturday, featuring players and coaches from every Frontier Conference schools serving as instructors. Previously, the camp was held in Butte and Great Falls.
This year, all proceeds from the camp will go towards helping Helena resident Jack Racicot, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a snowboarding accident in February. He is hoping to walk again.
He recently completed an intensive rehabilitation program at the University of Utah Inpatient Rehabilitation Center. On May 15, Jack began a new, rigorous program at Neuroworx, a highly-rated outpatient rehabilitation facility just south of Salt Lake City in Sandy, Utah.
MSU-Northern women’s coach Chris Mouat played a big role in creating the camp three years ago and believes something like this is only possible in the tight-knit Frontier conference.
“I’ve never heard anything like it, and it’s kind of evolved into really a league wide event and people want to be there, we’d love to have them all,” Mouat said. “Men’s coaches and players, women’s too. We want everybody there and certainly a lot of kids there and to have everybody kind of drop the rivalries for a day is awesome and it’s fun. I’m not getting ready to play a game the next night. I’m just getting ready to go and have a good time at this clinic and that makes it a lot of fun.”
Sessions will run from 9 a.m. to noon for boys and girls entering grades K-4 and from 1-4 p.m. for boys and girls entering grades 5-8. Cost is $25.00 with 100-percent of the proceeds going to Racicot.
New this year, one camper will walk away with a new bicycle in each session thanks to an anonymous donor. Campers can also win other prizes and all will receive a t-shirt courtesy of Universal Athletic Service.
