Theinert 3-on-3 tourney lights up Island
The 2018 Theinert 3-on-3 Tournament championship team, Forever Young. From left, Tournament Director Jimbo Theinert, Ryan Creighton, Dante Langhorne, Mike Scott, Jesse Leverock, Joe Miranda and kneeling, Marta Czaplak.
Once again, this year’s 3-on-3 basketball tournament was a huge success, helping support the nonprofit Joseph J. Theinert Memorial Fund.
On November 24, Jimbo Theinert told the crowd of cheering fans, that this event is just one of several that are hosted throughout the year to help fund the Strongpoint Theinert Ranch in New Mexico, which benefits veterans and Gold Star families.
The mission of Strongpoint Theinert Ranch is to strengthen its guests physically and mentally, and help them transition back into civilian society. Guests participate in activities designed to work on dealing with stress and other issues, utilizing nature as a means to heal them. Located in a remote area of New Mexico on approximately 1,000 acres, the nonprofit’s current goal is to raise funds to build a bunkhouse that can host an additional 20 guests.
Ian Kanarvogel, who has been instrumental in organizing the popular 3-on-3 tournament, which has become a staple of Islander’s Thanksgiving weekend festivities, informed the crowd and participants that this is the 9th year of the annual event. It has been hosted by the Shelter Island School on the Saturday following Thanksgiving because many former players and students are home from college and/or have family gatherings during the Thanksgiving vacation.
The tournament is all about fun and competition, and strives to include a diverse roster of players. Each team must have at least one high school student and one female player.
A majority of the players were returning from past tournaments and were looking forward to the competition and spending time with old friends and rivals. The competition was keen and the sportsmanship was greatly appreciated by referees Jim Colligan and Ken Krause.
Action during the 3-on-3 benefit basketball tournament at the Shelter Island School gym on November 24.
School Nurse Mary Kanarvogel was the tournament clock manager, assisted by her husband Mark. Mellissa Mundy helped organize the teams and the crowd check-in process, the raffle and the selling of the coveted tournament T-shirts.
This year, a total of nine teams entered the tournament. It was a double-elimination format with the best teams moving forward to the semi-finals. The top four teams were: We Are Marshall, GTL, Flint Tropics and Forever Young, with the last two battling it out in the finals.
Forever Young, a team from Greenport and the 2016 tournament champions, had suffered an earlier loss and needed to win twice over the undefeated Flint Tropics. The games were well played and hard fought, but in the end, it was Forever Young who earned the 2018 championship honors.
Flint Tropics, a much younger team, with many of the players on Coach Jay Card Jr.’s varsity squad, battled hard in both games. Congratulations goes to Forever Young’s Ryan Creighton, Dante Langhorne, Mike Scott, Jesse Leverock, Joe Miranda and Marta Czaplak. Flint Tropics was composed of Jimbo Theinert, Jimmy Read, Walter Richards, Liam Adipietro and Francesca Frasco.
The two big winners of the raffle contest were Catherine Brigham, who was presented with the Mary Kay basket of cosmetics, and Ericka Bloom who won tickets to a New York Knicks vs. Washington DC Wizards game at Madison Square Garden.
