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High School Basketball Team Plays 24-Hour Game for ‘Cancer Travels’

A community basketball game going on for 24-hours straight.

The cause is something much bigger than themselves.

Traverse City West High School basketball players took on the community Friday night for their annual West versus community fundraiser.

The proceeds from the game go directly to a local non-profit.

9 and 10’s Megan Atwood and photojournalist Jeremy Erickson tell us which organization the players are playing for.

For the Traverse City West basketball team, shooting hoops is about more than just playing basketball.

“We play six games of one hour long each, each team does,” says Alex Keen, Junior at TC West.

It’s an event that keeps Traverse City West basketball players and community members on the court, for 24-hours straight.

“We keep a continuous score the whole time, last year the score was right around 2,400 to 2,300 so we have to bring in some additional score keeping items to make sure we can keep track of that,” says Sanders Frye, varsity basketball coach at Traverse City West.

It’s a team effort to make sure things stay in motion.

“We have four teams: Coaches, JV, Freshman, Varsity and we all play local teams who donated to be a part of it and we just chill here and play basketball for 24 hours,”  junior Alex Keen goes on to say.

But it’s the name of the game that keeps these basketball players in the gym. Cancer Travels is a local non-profit that provides gas cards and financial assistance to families that are battling cancer.

“There was actually a teacher here at west that started the group. One of our coaches was on the board for Cancer Travels. In the last three years we’ve donated 5,000 and we’re hoping to bump that up a little bit this year too,” continues Sanders Frye.

Before the season even starts, the players are dedicated to giving back to something much bigger than themselves.

“We’re doing more than just Traverse City West basketball. Some people get helped out a lot, and it just feels really good,” says Alex Keen.

Games run until 1 o’clock on Saturday afternoon, so you still have time to head out, donate and cheer on the teams.

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