Anyone who enjoys exciting basketball games and would like to see future athletic legends are strongly encouraged to check out the annual Eric Gordon Super Shootout All Stars game.
Taking place on April 20 at North Central High School, this year’s event promises to continue delivering the excitement that Super Shootout has provided for more than 20 years.
Many of the top players from the Indianapolis area will go head-to-head in this game, which highlights some of this season’s most promising boys and girls high school basketball standouts.
“Super Shootout is good entertainment because the kids play hard, and we have some very competitive games,” said Chris Reeder, president and co-founder of Super Shootout Inc., a not-for-profit organization that presents the event. “Most importantly, it also promotes good values in terms of education, and gives our local athletes a chance to showcase their talents and feel a sense of accomplishment as they complete their years in high school.”
Selected by city and county high school coaches, the teams are filled with Marion County’s top talented male and female high school senior basketball players.
Both boys and girls will be divided into competing City and County teams. Players from the City team will mostly represent schools within the Indianapolis Public School system, while County team players will come mostly from schools in surrounding township districts. Both teams will also include players from parochial and private schools.
Proceeds from the game will benefit the work of Super Shootout Inc., a charitable organization created to provide post-secondary educational opportunities for local youth.
To that end, Super Shootout Inc. has a scholarship fund that provides eligible and talented athletes one of three different types of scholarships worth $500 and $1,000.
Before each Super Shootout game, players are invited to participate in a workout session where their skills could be viewed by collegiate coaches for possible higher education playing opportunities.
“From its very beginning, Super Shootout Inc. has held a primary goal of granting deserving athletes the opportunity to be seen by collegiate recruiters and scouts,” Reeder said.
Super Shootout traces its origins to 1991, when Reeder and five other organizers selected four senior basketball players from schools in Marion County to participate in a college workout for a group of visiting junior college coaches.
Each player was offered an athletic scholarship as a result of the event, and the organizers used it as an inspiration to organize an annual all-star game to benefit more student athletes.
In 1992, the City-County Shootout, which featured boys basketball stars, was held at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University. During the following year, a girl’s city-county all-star game was added to the event, which later became known as Super Shootout.
Over the next 20 years, Super Shootout has had presenting sponsors such as the Indianapolis Recorder newspaper and former Indiana Pacers player Jermaine O’Neal. New Orleans Hornets shooting guard and Indiana’s 2007 Mr. Basketball, Eric Gordon Jr., is the event’s current sponsor.
“I’m really excited about this year’s event, and look forward to coming home and once again being a part of what has become a tradition in Indianapolis,” Gordon said in a statement. “Some great players will be participating.”
