Rest Day
I received the following email from Ari Santillanes yesterday and wanted to share with you all.
Hi Justin,
I don’t know if you have heard about this from Kyle Keller, but I thought this might be a good story for the blog.
Hoops for Hope
The first annual Hoops for Hope game will be held in the Large Gym of El Camino High School on Tuesday, February 11th, at 6PM. This is a basketball game that pits two longtime rival high schools, El Camino and Rio Americano, against one another for a good cause. In future years, the winner of the game will take 75% of the ticket sale profits for the charity of their choice; the loser will take 25% for their charity. The most important part: the teams for each high school are comprised of staff members! That’s right, teachers scrapping with teachers, showing students how it’s done. Tickets to the game are $5 for the general public; $3 for students.
In a touching show of sportsmanship, both teams have agreed to that 100% of the proceeds this year should benefit the Dingman Family Memorial fund. Brandon Dingman, a teacher and coach that Kyle and I worked with at El Camino, passed away suddenly from a heart attack on December 15th, 2013. He was an alumni of EC, the varsity basketball coach, a loyal Kings fan, and a recreational b-baller (which was what he was doing when he suffered the fatal attack). He was only 36 at the time of his passing, and is survived by his wife, Carrie, and their two children, Taylor (7 yrs old) and Jack (2 yrs old). Needless to say, it is a really unfortunate situation and has left a lot of people grieving and sad. But it has also spurred many to action, and it has been amazing to see the community pull together to honor his memory and support his loved ones. The collaboration between the teachers of EC and Rio to put on this game is just one example.
I hope you will share this story for a couple of reasons. One, Brandon was my buddy. He was an inspirational person and an incredibly thoughtful friend – I miss him every day. He has a beautiful family, and they deserve and continue to need this outpouring of support.Two, Kyle and I are both playing in the game on Tuesday night. I am one of two women playing for EC, and Kyle has been working on his dunk. It would be awesome to have the support of our Crossfit East Sac family while we make fools of ourselves in another sport for charity. We’re playing 5–minute quarters, so the game should go quickly, but it’s for a great cause and it will be great fun! Hope to see some of our CFES peeps there!
Thanks,
Ari Santillanes
English Teacher and Eagle Eye Adviser
“Character is doing the right thing when no one is looking.”
