Fundraiser on all fours
McGuffey’s Stacey Martin aims and misses in overtime in a game of donkey ball at Trinity High School November 29. Donkeys from Buckeye Donkey Ball moved up and down the court to help the teams score points. For more photos, visit www.observer-reporter.com.
Katie Roupe / Observer-Reporter Competitors in donkey ball tried to get their donkeys down the court to score. Students and teachers spent half the time either trying to pull their donkey in the right direction or trying to stay on top of the donkey.
Katie Roupe / Observer-Reporter A member of the Wash High team tries to pull her donkey towards the basketball with no avail during the donkey ball game.
Katie Roupe / Observer-Reporter A Trinity team member tries to score for their team on the donkey named Spot during donkey ball.
Above, a member of the Wash High team tries to pull her donkey toward the basketball to no avail during a donkey ball game made up of teachers and students from Trinity, Washington and McGuffey high schools.
Katie Roupe / Observer-Reporter The McGuffey team pulls their donkeys down the court to get posession of the basketball.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter A Trinity high school teacher steers his donkey down the court.
Katie Roupe / Observer-Reporter Two students volunteered to do the pooper scooper duty. Whenever a donkey would poop on the floor, the game would stop for just enough time for the girls to clean up.
It wasn’t the usual basketball game last week in the Trinity High School gymnasium. The clip-clop of donkey hooves mixed with roars of laughter as competitors tried their hardest to stay on their animals during a game of Buckeye Donkey Ball.
While one teacher lay flat on the donkey’s back with arms wrapped around its neck to stay on, another student slid off the animal’s back and toppled to the ground. The crowd’s cheers fueled the participants as they tried to make baskets while riding a donkey.
Four teams made up of teachers and students from McGuffey, Washington and Trinity high schools competed Thursday in a fundraiser held by Trinity senior student council members to raise money for their senior prom. A portion of their proceeds went to the student councils of the other districts whose teams participated.
The competitors were supposed to ride their donkeys down the court to score points, but a few of the animals dug in their heels and had to be pulled down the court by their riders. Teams had five minutes to score as many points as possible before going into a sudden death overtime. Although few points were scored, spectators and competitors shared a lot of laughs while raising money for the student councils.