For the third year, Tappan Zee High School hosted the annual “Two Counties, One Cause” basketball tournament on Friday, Jan. 11 and Saturday, Jan.12, a fundraiser to support the Children’s Tumor Foundation. The tournament, which featured six teams in the inaugural event, has grown to a field of 10 this year, comprised of five teams from Westchester County and five from Rockland County. Also playing for the first time is the Tappan Zee girls varsity basketball team, taking on Sleepy Hollow on Friday night. (Read more here.) This year, the students raised $20,000.
Tappan Zee head basketball coach George Gaine, now in his 16th year at the helm of the Dutchmen basketball program, is the driving force behind the tournament.
“Every shot was just — I don’t know how to say it — they were sending love to me, to the community, to the parents who worked all week,” Gaine shared with the Journal News. “There was a lot of emotion. I’ve seen emotion do some crazy things. This was up there for sure.”
The event is inspired by the fight of Gaine’s 7-year-old daughter Brielle, who suffers from optic nerve glioma. The proceeds go to benefit the Children’s Tumor Foundation.
“Coach Gaine is the best and we just wanted to give back to him,” junior guard Dan Linehan told the local newspaper, The Journal News. “We know how special this day is for him. We didn’t want him to have to worry about the game. We said, ‘Let us take care of the game. You don’t have to worry about that.'”
The Children’s Tumor Foundation is pleased to be able to support opportunities for youth to raise money and awareness for NF. Click here for more information about CTF’s Youth Programs.
The Pearl River Pirates pose with NF Hero Ian.
NF Hero Ian discusses strategy with the Pearl River Pirates.
The Tappan Zee Dutchman gym goes blue and green for NF awareness.
