Hoop City Ballers shoot their shot in Dry July

BASKETBALLERS and businesses from across the region have pulled together for Dry July, raising more than $20,000 to go towards Barwon Health’s Andrew Love Centre.

Organiser of the Hoop City Ballers fundraising team Pete Williamson was extremely proud of all who donated their time and money to make the initiative a successful one in 2024.

“Everyone shot the ball really well, which is what you’d expect, but the overall support from the general public and the wider community has been massive this year,” he said.

“It was a well-received event this year and the fact we may finish up with between $23,000 to $24,000 by the end of our all of our fundraising is pretty nuts compared to what we were expecting.”

The fundraising, now tallied at $22,083, culminating on Thursday last week with professional and semi-professional basketballers descending on Hoop City Geelong to shoot 500 three-pointers each.

Each three-pointer made raised one dollar for Dry July, with several standouts throughout the day.

Mr Williamson said Bellarine Storm guard Nick Velasquez and Geelong United guard Seth Garcia each achieved 30 consecutive made shots during their shooting period, with the former accumulating a team-high 403 three-pointers from 500 shots.

In total, the 16-person team shot 8,000 threes and successfully made 4,584 of them.

The fundraiser also held a double donation day on Saturday to continue the initiative’s push for dollars.

Mr Williamson said an anonymous donor also made generous donation to the cause.

As of Tuesday, Hoop City Ballers ranked inside the top 10 of fundraising teams across the country.

Head to dryjuly.com/teams/hoop-city-ballers-2 to make a late donation.