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A Brief History Behind Saint Catherine's May Madness
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Many years ago, Saint Catherine used to have a student-vs-parent tournament which was very popular. Somehow over the years, the tournament fell by the wayside, and many (but not all) the families of that era moved on, their children all grown, and the tradition of the student-parent game was forgotten. One tradition that continued, however, was the gift that each 8th grade graduating class gives to the school when they leave. You see relics of past gifts every day at the school: the trophy case, the gym scoreboard, the bleachers, and others. As was then as it is now, the school gym was below standard. At the time the basketball backboards were made of wood, and fans all sat in folding chairs. Even today, the flooring is slippery and unforgiving linoleum tile instead of grippy and resilient wood flooring. How It Works | Tournament | Volleyball | Kids |
Then in 2005, the then-8th grade families were thinking of a fundraiser for the graduating class to do for their gift to the school. Many of the older parents, whose youngest children were graduating, still remembered the days of the student-parent basketball, and the oft-delayed hopes of improving the gym. They wanted to revive the tradition of an activity that the adults could once again participate in, and utilize that tradition as a platform for the graduating class to stage a fundraiser — perhaps establish a new tradition for future graduating classes. Thus, May Madness was (re)born, the name coined from "March Madness", the popular description of the NCAA College Basketball tournament.
Although largely a basketball tournament, May Madness is actually all about family fun. We have activities for dads, moms and kids in the spirit of becoming active once again in the spring and summer.
Players consist of parents, coaches, and parents from previous students. Each grade will field a team, forming eight teams -- grades with the smallest turnouts will merge to form a larger team. Since thre are no official uniforms, it would be nice for each team to choose a "color" for their players to wear.
Basketball games will consist of three rounds of double-elimination matches. Winning teams will progress toward the championship and losing teams will play in the consolation bracket. The first round will be played Friday night, and the remaining rounds will be played on Saturday afternoon.
The winning team of the tournament will have their name engraved on a plaque on the May Madness perpetual trophy.
Volleyball has historically been a smaller turnout. We will try to have a similar bracket-style tournament, but if not we'll just have multiple rounds of volleyball games.
This year we will be having a Kids' basketball shooting contest, for boys and girls, under four grade divisions:
| Division | Contestants | |
|---|---|---|
| Rookie | K - 2nd grade girls | K - 2nd grade boys |
| Division 3 | 3rd - 4th grade girls | 3rd - 4th grade boys |
| Division 2 | 5th - 6th grade girls | 5th - 6th grade boys |
| Division 1 | 7th - 8th grade girls | 7th - 8th grade boys |
Contestants will have a fixed time (like 60 seconds) to make as many baskets as they can from certain spots on the basketball court. They will earn points for shooting from all the spots (regardless of whether they go in) as well as for baskets made.
The top-scoring contestant in each category will receive a prize and each participant will receive a recognition ribbon.