FISHER HOUSE - HELPING MILITARY FAMILIES

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Want to see who the area’s top boys and girls 3-pointer shooters are or the best and most creative slam dunkers?

Then make sure to attend Hoops Fest 16 as Prince William County’s top high school boys and girls basketball players compete in a series of skills competitions to earn the title of No. 1 in their respective category.

The annual event, which is sponsored by the News & Messenger, returns to the basketball court Friday, March 18 at Hylton High School. The competition starts at 7 p.m. with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.

The year, proceeds raised from Hoops Fest 16 will go to help Hylton graduate Josh Himan return home. A Marine who was wounded while serving in Afghanistan in September of 2009, Josh was paralyzed from his chest down as a result of his injury. Josh suffered damage to his spinal cord when his Humvee hit an improvised explosive device.

Josh, who joined the Marines in January of 2008 and is a 2006 Radford University graduate, is currently at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The money from Hoops Fest will go to aid in building an addition on to the Himan’s home in Woodbridge so it can be accessible for Josh. The project will require about $100,000.

Currently, Josh’s parents, Jerry and Pat Himan, are living at the Fisher House, a place where families of wounded soldiers being taken care of at Walter Reed can stay. To help care for his son, Jerry Himan has taken a leave of absence from his job.

Josh is the oldest of the Himan’s four children. Their daughter Sarah was a standout softball player at Hylton who went on to become a four-year starter at catcher and three-time all-Big South Conference selection at Radford. The youngest sibling, Joel, is a former Cardinal District Player of the Year in baseball. Joel Himan also graduated from Hylton.

Hoops Fest started in 1996 when Woodbridge High School hosted the event. That night, $4,000 was raised to help Lee Thompson Jr. who needed prosthetics on both his legs after coming down with spinal meningitis.

Since then, Hoops Fest has raised over $100,000 for families in need in Prince William County.

The event itself will feature four competitions, the boys and girls 3-point shootouts, the 2-ball competition, where teammates pair up to score as many points as they can in a minute, and finally the slam-dunk competition.

Last year, Forest Park’s Chanel Shands won her second-straight girls 3-point title and will look to defend it again and become the first-ever three-time champion at Hoops Fest.

Another expected returner is Woodbridge’s Briana Nottingham, who teamed with Deonte Hallums to win the 2-ball competition.

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