West Virginia Institute — The largest high school basketball showcase in the state is underway on the campus of West Virginia State University.
The Par-Mar Shootout begins Monday morning and continues through Thursday night. The tournament will feature girls' high school basketball teams and boys' high school basketball teams, with 32 games played over four days. Some of the games feature teams from Kanawha Valley, while others come from far away to participate in this event.
“There's no other event like this in West Virginia. You're talking about kids playing basketball all day and night for four days. This is a great event,” tournament organizers said. said Chase Hatcher of Per Mar Stores, who is helping with the.
The game will be played on the campus of West Virginia State University. Hatcher, a state alumnus, said the school is well aware of the benefits of bringing so many high school athletes to campus.
“I know several coaches who have taken their teams around campus and shown them everything this campus has to offer,” he says.
Due to increased interest from teams participating in this event, this year's tournament has been expanded to a four-day event. Hatcher added that he has already received messages from teams interested in next year's event.
The action is almost non-stop, with only 10 minutes of warm-up time between games, and then straight into the next contest. Hatcher said it's a utopian four days for the avid game of basketball.
“If you pay $10, you can watch all of these games from 9:30 in the morning to 10 at night. You can't leave and go back now, but as a basketball fan, if you come here, , I think they'll enjoy watching the games just to experience it,” he said.
