Kuyper Hosts Inaugural Homeschool Basketball Tournament
Kuyper College recently welcomed a group of very special guests to campus when it hosted its first annual Rising Stars Homeschool Basketball Tournament in early January.
The event saw six teams – the Holland Wave, Butternut, the Jackson Patriots, the Lapeer Lakers, the Shoreline Breakers and Wyoming Warriors – from across the state of Michigan gather for an exciting, high-energy day of basketball, with both their supporters and members of the Kuyper community packing the stands in the Boonstra Gymnasium.
“I just felt like everything went really well,” said Tyler Whitcomb, Kuyper’s Athletic Liaison and Admissions Counselor, who spearheaded the tournament’s organization. “The kids were great, there was great sportsmanship, the coaches were fantastic, it was just fun to interact.”
Beginning bright and early in the morning, the teams faced off in a round-robin format, with the top team in each division advancing to the championship game in the evening and, ultimately, the Lakers securing the championship trophy.
Whitcomb said the event was an opportunity to showcase the talents of an often-overlooked group of students. Homeschool sports have existed in Michigan for decades, and the movement is only growing.
“Homeschool athletes can often be an untapped market. They’re just the best kids, and there’s a lot of great athletes among them. I just don’t feel like they always get the recognition they deserve,” he said.
Whitcomb added that there are big plans in the works for similar events in the future.
“Going forward, we’re looking at putting on more tournaments. We’re going to call it the Kuyper College Rising Stars homeschool tournaments,” he explained. “We’re going to do basketball for girls and boys, and then volleyball too.”
Continuing to host homeschool sporting events fits in perfectly with the Kuyper ethos, he said, because it is a way of practicing hospitality.
“I thought, ‘Let’s be the college that goes out of our way to welcome them,” said Whitcomb.