Sports

Sunrise Optimist Club Holds Basketball Tournament

Children from fourth through ninth grade participated in the 2011 Kylie Pinheiro Memorial Hot Shot Basketball Tournament.

Nearly 75 boys and girls in the greater Freehold area took to the basketball court at the Freehold YMCA on Sunday for hot shot honors. The YMCA played host to the Freehold Sunshine Optimist Club’s 2011 Kylie Pinheiro Memorial Hot Shot Basketball Tournament.

The club has run the tournament for 20 years but renamed it in honor of Kylie Pinheiro in 2009, according to Frank Dalotto, a Freehold Township resident and chairperson of the annual event. Pinheiro was killed in South Brunswick in 2007 in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. Pinheiro’s father, Scott Pinheiro, is a longtime member of the Sunshine Optimist Club.

The club is an international organization with a mission of supporting activities for children, Dalotto said.  The Sunshine Optimist Club hosts fundraisers such as the basketball tournament to help support the mission.

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Dalotto said his involvement in the club has been incredibly rewarding.

“I used to be one of these guys who worked in Wall Street 15 years ago. I bought a business in town and started getting involved in the community,” Dalotto said. “The more you get involved with volunteering, the more addicting it becomes.”

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The Kylie Pinheiro Memorial Hot Shot Basketball Tournament is one of those addictions. The children participating in the tournament were divided into five groups by sex and grade. The brackets included girls from grades four, five and six; girls from grades seven, eight and nine; boys from grades four and five; boys from grades six and seven; and boys from grades eight and nine. Each child had one minute to make as many free throw shots as they could. Successful shots from difficult spots on the court were awarded extra points. Points were then tallied to determine the winners of the tournament.

The first, second and third place winners in each bracket received trophies. The following boys and girls placed in the tournament:

Girls 4th, 5th, 6th Grades

  • 1st Place - Diana Laskey
  • 2nd Place - Katelyn Spina
  • 3rd Place - Klaire Wall

Girls 7th, 8th, 9th Grades

  • 1st Place - Cara Trulli
  • 2nd Place - Kristen Poskaitis
  • 3rd Place - Samantha Famulare

 Boys 4th, 5th Grades

  • 1st Place - Blake Friedman
  • 2nd Place - Jeremy Weinstein
  • 3rd Place - Michael Wynne 

Boys 6th, 7th Grades

  • 1st Place - Austin Baron
  • 2nd Place - James Wynne
  • 3rd Place - Matthew Cunha

Boys 8th, 9th Grades

  • 1st Place - Thomas Totillo
  • 2nd Place - Brandon Furlan
  • 3rd Place - George Fossella

For more information about the Sunrise Optimist Club of Freehold, visit their Web site.


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