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6 Highlights From The Second Annual Ballin’ For Charity Tournament

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By LeagueApps
March 29, 2017
5 min

LeagueApps hosted it’s second annual Ballin’ for Charity 3-on-3 basketball tournament. The event was held at a packed Basketball City in the lower east side of Manhattan.

Over 150 players, 50 volunteers, and a dozen sponsors turned out to help further the cause of FundPlay, which provides technology grants and donations to youth sports organizations that share our mission. Two of those organizations are Positive Coaching Alliance and Volo City Kids Foundation.

Read more about why LeagueApps balls for charity.

If you missed last week’s event, or if you want to rehash the fun times, we’ve got 6 highlights from this weekend’s Ballin’ for Charity.

1. LeagueApps Organized A Smash Hit Of A Tournament Thanks To Our Partners

We’re all about practicing what we preach here at LeagueApps. Ballin’ for Charity gave us a great opportunity to use our platform for registration, payments, communication, and scheduling. Using our own platform put ourselves in our partners’ shoes and experience what they experience day in and day out.

Aside from using our own technology, we were able to put some best practices in place that we have learned over the years from our partners. One of the premier tournament and event hosts on the East Coast, NXT Sports, dished out 4 tips that we were able to capitalize on. We were also sure to follow the 5 C’s as practiced by youth coach Aaron Jaworowski.

We also tweaked our sports management platform based on feedback. This year’s tournament scheduling algorithm created a seamless transition from pool play to single elimination action. Thanks to everyone from partners to participants who gave their expertise, the LeagueApps platform was better and more optimized for this year’s tournament.

Tom Crane, who played for Safe + Ready, agreed that this year’s event went smooth.
“Even though we only won one game, there was a ton of fun stuff to do like knockout. Plus, the after party was fantastic.”

Check out some of the photos from Ballin’ for Charity.

2. A Dozen Super Sponsors Helped Host This Tournament

There was plenty to do before, during, and after pool play, and a big reason everyone was able to stay busy was because of the AMAZING sponsors’ help.

The tournament’s Title Sponsor, ProHealth Urgent Care, made it a point to live up to their name. A ton of care was displayed by them in ensuring that Ballin’ for Charity was the absolute best it could be.

Pro Health

We also want to thank our MVP Sponsor SalesLoft for all their help. Aside from their generous contributions, they were also quite busy on social media.

But there were more. Anheuser-Busch helped make sure the on-site after party was fully stocked. We certainly learned a few tricks from NYC Social into what makes hosting a great sporting event. WTR MLN WTR and Recoup Beverage provided cool, thirst-quenching drink options to ensure participants were hydrated and recovered between games. Hooch, the app that gives you free drinks and cocktails every month, gave away a free membership for a year to our three-point contest winner.

Food was donated by Ox Verte, Banza, and Slice. Ox Verte’s healthy menu is the perfect option for any company’s catered lunch and Banza’s delicious chickpea pasta is the only gluten-free mac and cheese substitute you’ll ever need. And who doesn’t love a delicious pizza from Slice?!

Outdoor Voices, which creates recreational apparel, gave away hundreds of totes so we could keep organized. Another recreational apparel sponsor, Mission Athlete, gave away towels to make sure all players were dry between games.

To make sure everyone got home safe and sound, Lyft provided discount codes and free rides to and from Basketball City. And the Jr. NBA and Basketball City were integral in helping with the logistics and basketball operations for the event. Thank you to each and every one of our sponsors that helped make Ballin’ for Charity so amazing!

3. Overtime Wins The Competitive Division For Bingo’s All Stars

Overtime Wins

Congrats to Overtime for winning the competitive division championship! Thanks to their win, the charity of their choice Bingo’s All Stars will receive a donation of $1,500.

The purpose of the Bingo’s Allstars Organization is supporting, developing, and educating youth through the game of basketball. Members of Bingo’s All Stars Organization have united together from throughout the tristate area to accomplish a common goal and provide positive adult leadership to our youth.

You can read the entire list of participants and charities here.

4. Volo City Kids Foundation Benefits From NYC Social’s Recreational Win

In the recreational division, NYC Social took home the championship. Their win over Lyft ensured that the charity of their choice Volo City Kids will receive a donation of $1,000.

Volo City Kids provides our community with an opportunity to learn, practice and play a variety of sports in a fun but structured environment at no cost to the family. Volo City Kids removes barriers to athletic participation such as gender, skill, and financial resources. They emphasize team play through league play and community building by including volunteers from the surrounding communities and by providing post-game social events for players, parents, and volunteers.

Congratulations to both Bingo’s All Stars and Volo City Kids for the tremendous work they do in the community for making youth sports happen!

NYC Social FTW

5. Your Collective Efforts Raised A Boatload Of Funds

We’re so happy to announce that with each and every one of your efforts, we were able to raise a ton of funding for this year’s event! The proceeds from the event will be shared with PCA and Volo City Kids, ensuring those organizations will be able to continue to deliver great sports experiences to youth athletes in their communities.

By exceeding our goal nearly three-fold, we’re super thankful for everyone that made a part of this event so special, both in fun and in actual numbers. This also ensures that LeagueApps and FundPlay can continue to work on their mission towards making sports happen. But speaking of fun….

6. The SPORTSDOG Was In The House!

Ballin’ For Charity was a phenomenal opportunity for our team to produce a great event Many different people on the LeagueApps team go above and beyond their normal day-to-day responsibilities to make it happen. To do this, we rely on our values: Sportsmanship, Passion, Openness, Results, Team, Student of The Game, Difference Maker, and Grit, or SportsDog.

We made sure we displayed these values to every participant, player, volunteer, sponsor, and member that was a part of Ballin’ for Charity. We also wanted to have some fun doing so. So, at our second annual Ballin’ for Charity, we were happy to unleash the SportsDog, the newest LeagueApps mascot that personifies what it means to be a part of LeagueApps.

One Shining Moment #ThisIsMarch #BallinForCharity #TeamMSBA

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Read Social Media Talks Ballin’ For Charity 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament.