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Thursday
March 11, 2010 Since 1922 |
GCC secret: Food, hospitality and hoops
By Dave Rogers
The Baytown Sun Published December 30, 2009 Editor’s note: This is the second of a three-part series looking at the planning and work that goes on behind the scenes of a high school basketball tournament, in this case the Gulf Coast Classic at Barbers Hill.
MONT BELVIEU — There’s no excuse for anyone to go hungry at the Gulf Coast Classic.
The volunteers who put on the three-day civic pride event at Barbers Hill High School make sure of that.
Of course, there are concession stands. And, like any tournament worth its salt, organizers lay out a spread in a hospitality room set up to feed workers and visiting coaches, referees and school officials.
But the folks here have a reputation for going that extra mile.
“This tournament’s got a lot of tradition in it and a lot of coaches return year after year, because they feel it’s a well-run tournament,” Sharlene Barnett said Tuesday.
“They know things are going to be taken care of. They know their kids will be accommodated. We try to do as much as we can to make them feel welcome and enjoy themselves throughout this holiday people.
“We don’t have the number of teams participating like it used to be, but a lot more people are putting on tournaments during the holidays. We still have a lot of people who continue to come year after year, so we must be doing something right.”
Barnett is in her fifth year as an assistant basketball coach on The Hill and she is involved in virtually every facet of planning and executing the three-day tournament that wraps up tonight.
“It’s pretty busy,” she said. “The month of December goes really quick for me. I actually start in November.”
Barnett says the concession stands are stocked to feed full meals to more than 200 folks a day, and not just hot dogs, nachos, candy and cold drinks.
“We have a couple of boosters, Trey Armer and Karl Mitchell, who make hamburgers and sausage on a stick for us,” Barnett said. “I send out a form to all the teams ahead of time and if they choose to feed their teams at our school (with a hamburger lunch), we invoice their school.
“I ask them again during the day, just to make sure we have enough hamburgers left. Today, we fed nine teams, but only two reserved ahead of time.”
Workers at the two concession stands (one at the high school, one at the Field House) are recruited from the booster club, with plenty of help from student organizations. Typically, Barnett schedules them on three-hour shifts, with 36 workers a day needed.
Thanks to local restaurants like Iguana Joe’s, Legend Bbq and Chili’s, who donate buffet meals and servers, the need for volunteers to man the hospitality room isn’t so large.
The mothers of Barbers Hill basketball players run that operation, which, Barnett said, feeds as many as 150 people a day.
“We feed all the workers, all the referees, coaches, assistant coaches, bus drivers and trainers,” said Tracy Anderson, who has had four children go through the BH basketball program and has helped with the hospitality room for more than a decade.
“We try to get 100 percent of the food donated so we don’t have to take it out of the proceeds of the tournament,” said Lori May, another player’s mom.
Victor Ybarra, a parent of former BH players and the owner of Iguana Joe’s, is among one of the longest-tenured volunteers. Besides donating food for Monday and Wednesday, Ybarra works a regular shift as official scorer.
Legends Bbq did the hospitality room cooking for Tuesday and Chili’s is providing tonight’s meal.
But the hospitality room is about more than main courses.
All the Barbers Hill basketball players are expected to help furnish drinks and then there are the sweets, morning, noon and night.
“My mother always does homemade cinnamon rolls and Trey (Armer) brings homemade kolaches,” Anderson said. “There are a lot of old time Barbers Hill people that bake cookies and cakes.
“They’ve done it year after year. This is truly a community event.”
The Baytown Sun Published December 30, 2009 Editor’s note: This is the second of a three-part series looking at the planning and work that goes on behind the scenes of a high school basketball tournament, in this case the Gulf Coast Classic at Barbers Hill.
MONT BELVIEU — There’s no excuse for anyone to go hungry at the Gulf Coast Classic.
The volunteers who put on the three-day civic pride event at Barbers Hill High School make sure of that.
Of course, there are concession stands. And, like any tournament worth its salt, organizers lay out a spread in a hospitality room set up to feed workers and visiting coaches, referees and school officials.
But the folks here have a reputation for going that extra mile.
“This tournament’s got a lot of tradition in it and a lot of coaches return year after year, because they feel it’s a well-run tournament,” Sharlene Barnett said Tuesday.
“They know things are going to be taken care of. They know their kids will be accommodated. We try to do as much as we can to make them feel welcome and enjoy themselves throughout this holiday people.
“We don’t have the number of teams participating like it used to be, but a lot more people are putting on tournaments during the holidays. We still have a lot of people who continue to come year after year, so we must be doing something right.”
Barnett is in her fifth year as an assistant basketball coach on The Hill and she is involved in virtually every facet of planning and executing the three-day tournament that wraps up tonight.
“It’s pretty busy,” she said. “The month of December goes really quick for me. I actually start in November.”
Barnett says the concession stands are stocked to feed full meals to more than 200 folks a day, and not just hot dogs, nachos, candy and cold drinks.
“We have a couple of boosters, Trey Armer and Karl Mitchell, who make hamburgers and sausage on a stick for us,” Barnett said. “I send out a form to all the teams ahead of time and if they choose to feed their teams at our school (with a hamburger lunch), we invoice their school.
“I ask them again during the day, just to make sure we have enough hamburgers left. Today, we fed nine teams, but only two reserved ahead of time.”
Workers at the two concession stands (one at the high school, one at the Field House) are recruited from the booster club, with plenty of help from student organizations. Typically, Barnett schedules them on three-hour shifts, with 36 workers a day needed.
Thanks to local restaurants like Iguana Joe’s, Legend Bbq and Chili’s, who donate buffet meals and servers, the need for volunteers to man the hospitality room isn’t so large.
The mothers of Barbers Hill basketball players run that operation, which, Barnett said, feeds as many as 150 people a day.
“We feed all the workers, all the referees, coaches, assistant coaches, bus drivers and trainers,” said Tracy Anderson, who has had four children go through the BH basketball program and has helped with the hospitality room for more than a decade.
“We try to get 100 percent of the food donated so we don’t have to take it out of the proceeds of the tournament,” said Lori May, another player’s mom.
Victor Ybarra, a parent of former BH players and the owner of Iguana Joe’s, is among one of the longest-tenured volunteers. Besides donating food for Monday and Wednesday, Ybarra works a regular shift as official scorer.
Legends Bbq did the hospitality room cooking for Tuesday and Chili’s is providing tonight’s meal.
But the hospitality room is about more than main courses.
All the Barbers Hill basketball players are expected to help furnish drinks and then there are the sweets, morning, noon and night.
“My mother always does homemade cinnamon rolls and Trey (Armer) brings homemade kolaches,” Anderson said. “There are a lot of old time Barbers Hill people that bake cookies and cakes.
“They’ve done it year after year. This is truly a community event.”