During the school year, a group of guys started a new event. Dawson, Conner, and Kyler went to the gym to do something different for a change. They all started shooting basketballs around, and then they wanted to play a game of three-on-three. They call it lunch basketball; others like Reid Weber call it Gorilla ball because lunch basketball consists of a lot of body checking and shoulder bumping.
Lunch basketball started late in the second quarter. All the guys go down to the gym after they are done eating and warm up and shoot around, similar to when the boys come out of the locker room during the second half of a basketball game.
Lunch basketball has grown and gained more interest throughout the year. Dawson Weber, Conner Emler, and Kyler Hefty started out playing three-on-three against Logan Rauch, Garrett Brehm, and Michael Christinason. Then it evolved into four-on-four basketball when Isaiah Groom and Ryan Stoney joined, then evolved again into five-on-five when Jaxon Oyen and Carter Bierman joined. Lunch basketball has lost members since its peak, and now we all play four-on-four. The current teams are Dawson Weber, TJ Evans, Kyler Hefty, and Isaiah Groom versus Logan Rauch, Hunter White, Reid Weber, and Ryan Stoney.
The games are very competitive. “When we play, it reminds me of playing in a varsity game,” said Dawson. The game consists of occasional roughhousing, but no one gets seriously hurt from playing. The games are usually played competitively because most of the guys who play lunch basketball are competitive in everything they do. They are all in sports or are former athletes. A lot of us are competitive and enjoy competing against each other.