We heard from Guthrie Center teacher and coach Steve Froehlich yesterday as he discussed what he’s hoping participation will be like in this April’s inaugural Guthrie Center Alumni Men’s & Women’s Basketball Tournament.

While Froehlich is hoping for a solid turnout in year one, he brought the alumni tournament idea over to Guthrie Center knowing that the event has the potential to be incredibly popular down the road.

“When you start something, everybody is kind of like, ‘ohh, I don’t know what this is’ because (I’ve) never done it’.  Well, where I’m from up in Algona it started off being smaller than what it is now… now they have 18-20 teams and girls teams they get 4-8 teams.  When you start something you just want people to get interested in it because after the first year, I guarantee you the next year it will be bigger.”

Froehlich says the alumni tournament has become so popular in Algona, it’s now one of the most celebrated weekends of the year.

“It’s a great thing.  Everybody goes back for that weekend.  It’s almost everybody’s favorite weekend… not Christmas, not Thanksgiving, but the alumni (weekend).  People come back for that weekend even if they’re not playing basketball to watch the games.  The gyms are full, and then (everybody) can go out and have a good time afterward.”

The registration deadline for Froehlich’s inaugural Guthrie Center alumni basketball tournament is exactly a month away.  Cost for participation is $100 and all proceeds go to the Guthrie Center athletic department.

Anyone with questions about the tournament can contact Coach Froehlich by calling the high school at 641-332-2236.