Gallery • 7 Photos

UPDATE:

It seems that endurance wasn’t a problem for the staff team, who beat the student teams by a landslide. “It was by about 30 points,” assistant varsity basketball coach and health teacher Jesse Abell said.

Abell cited the students’ overconfidence as one of the main factors in the staff’s victory. “I think they played the way that people always end up playing in open gym,” Abell said. He continued that the strategy they used was one of exclusively trying to shoot 3-pointers that they couldn’t consistently make, according to Abell, while the staff team “played real basketball.”

Congratulations to the staff team on a decisive victory and great job on a game well-played to our student teams.

ORIGINAL POST:

In a first for Tigard High School, there will be a student versus staff basketball game tonight as part of the “Homegoing Week” event being run by leadership.

At 6:30 p.m. in the main gym, four student teams will take on staff members Jesse Abell, James Swindle, Geoffrey Jarman, Kaleb Reese, Heidi DeHaan, Tyler Davila, and Andy Van Fleet in a recreational game of basketball.

According to sophomore Ellie Hefley, who was in charge of the team planning the game, they had originally planned on a field day but decided against it because they thought high school students may not want to participate. “At Fowler [Middle School] they do a student versus staff basketball game,” Hefley said, “so we were like, ‘let’s do [it], because they loved it at Fowler, so let’s try it here.’”

“I think it’s a really good opportunity for students to have a good time with their teachers, and it’s a little competitive so it makes it a little more fun,” junior Diego Lopez said. Lopez is playing on one of the student teams, and said that their practice is limited to some preparation during open gym after school.

The teachers, however, haven’t practiced at all, according to P.E. teacher and freshman basketball coach Heidi DeHaan. DeHaan said that she played basketball through college at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia in addition to coaching here at Tigard. “It’ll be fun to get out there,” DeHaan said. “That’s the point of it, right?”

Both Lopez and DeHaan were confident of their respective teams’ victory. Lopez cited the students’ “speed and quickness” as advantages that would give them the edge in the game. Additionally, the student teams rotate out every quarter while the staff team will play through the entire match. “I’m not sure at what level we’ll be getting up and down the court by the end, but who knows,” DeHaan said. “But I’m gonna say that we’ll win it all.”

DeHaan joked that the staff team’s greatest strength would be trash talk.

“It’s a fun, free event that they can go to, and we’re trying to appeal to the entire student body, so there will be music playing and a lot of stuff going on,” Hefley said. If you’re looking for an entertainment on your Wednesday night, stop by the school and root for your favorite team.