SPOKANE, Wash. – Over three thousand volunteers are coming together to make sure Hoopfest goes off without a hitch, and some of those volunteers have stuck around for decades.
Longtime volunteers Tom Schweifler, a court marshal, and Larry Myers, an area administrator, wouldn’t trade their part of Hoopfest, the world’s largest 3-on-3 tournament, for… the world.
“I started in 2002,” Myers said. “I’ve been here every year since.”
“This will be 24th year,” Schweifler said. “And I’ve never looked back, I love it, love this event.”
Between the two of them, Myers and Schweifler have worked Hoopfest for over 40 years.
“It’s an amazing event and it’s unlike any event, any place,” Schweifler said. “And I get to be a small piece of it, you know, and that’s fun.”
“I didn’t play a lot of sports growing up, but I’ve been that dad that coached everything so for this, it’s just fun,” Myers added.
Being an area administrator and working his way up in the ranks, Myers said he most oversees all the court monitors and marshals in the elite division. But to him, there’s no real hierarchy – the Hoopfest team all works as one, all having a great time during one of Spokane’s greatest events.
“Just because I have a role title doesn’t mean the role stops there,” Myers said.
As for Schweifler, being a court marshal, like Myers and thousands of other volunteers, he’s constantly running around.
“My day starts about 6:30 a.m. and goes nonstop, I never sit down, and I never stop pacing my court,” he said.
Hoopfest is an adrenaline rush for 48 hours, it’s a summer event like no other. And for volunteers who have seen it all since the early 2000s, picking a favorite memory from the iconic Inland Northwest staple, doesn’t come easy.
“I don’t know there’s so many,” Schweifler said. “The little kids running around and trying to shoot baskets and they can’t make it because they’re too tall.”
But one part of Hoopfest will always stand out to Schweifler.
“Having my sons monitor for me,” he said. “My sons are adult men now and they still monitor, they make it a priority to come and be on the courts with me. That’s my most heartfelt memory.”
Memories that will last a lifetime. And for these two longtime volunteers, Hoopfest 2024 will most definitely not be their last, because the game is just too much fun to let go.
Picking a favorite part, now that’s nearly impossible.
“It’s all of it, it’s how everything works together to make this thing happen,” Schweifler said.
Spokane’s Hoopfest Association said they have room for about 25 more court monitors. To apply, click here.
