NEWS
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
HerMIsTOnHeraLd.COM • A7
Local economy scores with AAU tourney
By TAMMY MALGESINI
COMMUNITY EDITOR
AAU youth basketball
coaches weren’t the only
ones going to their benches
during the 16th annual Best
of the West tournament.
With an estimated influx
of 4,000 people in Hermis-
ton over the weekend, area
businesses changed their
regular game plans to help
accommodate lodging and
meal options for teams.
“When we have these
teams coming in, we will
bring in some extra house-
keepers,” said Ryan Lynch,
general manager of Com-
fort Inn & Suites. “We give
them a pretty good rate and
we’ll change our breakfast
hours if they have morning
games.”
Hermiston High School
athletic director Larry
Usher, who helps coordinate
the event with the Hermis-
ton Youth Basketball Club,
said the Jan. 26-27 tourna-
ment featured 119 teams. In
addition to duffle bags and
basketball shoes, people
coming to town open their
wallets, he said.
Although a specific eco-
nomic impact study hasn’t
been conducted on the
Hermiston Youth Basketball
Club tournaments, Usher
said similar cities have esti-
mated an average of $100 is
spent per person.
“I think that’s a very con-
servative number,” Usher
said. “With at least one
night in a hotel, 5-7 meals,
a tank of gas and snacks —
that adds up in a hurry.”
Usher said in addition to
local teams, people travel
from the Tri-Cities, Seattle,
Portland, Yakima, Seattle,
Spokane and Idaho, including
20 teams from the Boise area.
The infrastructure, includ-
ing adequate hotel space and
restaurants, is important to
the success of the tournament,
Usher said. Although they
haven’t outgrown available
hotel space, he said locals do
feel the impact during tourna-
ment weekends.
Good Shepherd sets
goal at 5 million steps
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
staff photo by Kathy aney/east Oregonian
Teams from Boise, Idaho, and Richland, Washington, battle it out Saturday in the Sunset
Elementary School gymnasium. The teams came to town for the Best of the West AAU
basketball tournament, which used gyms in Hermiston, Echo and Stanfield and brought an
estimated 4,000 people and a $400,000 boost to the local economy.
“I think the word is out
when it’s tournament week-
end, don’t go out to lunch or
dinner,” Usher said. “It will
be hard to find a table.”
While some teams were
left scrambling to find a
restaurant to accommodate
a large group for a Satur-
day night team dinner, oth-
ers planned ahead. Shortly
after lunch, the Southeast
Boise team placed an order
for more than a dozen pizzas
from Ye Olde Pizza Shoppe,
said Nicole Roldan.
“The pizza place was
really busy but because we
called so early, we didn’t
have to wait,” she said.
Members of the Idaho
Elite teams were scattered
at several different hotels,
said Blaine and Dusty Mori-
arty. The Boise couple and
their two sons, Parker, 11,
and Cooper, 8, booked a
room about a month ago at
Oxford Suites.
While Cooper gave it a
“thumbs up” for the swim-
ming pool, Dusty was
impressed with the hotel
scheduling extra help to
assist with the compli-
mentary breakfast.
“The tournament people
do a good job of letting the
town know,” Blaine said.
“The town appeared ready
for all the teams.”
Kelly Schwirse, who’s
in charge of marketing and
communications with the
Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce, forwarded an
email to its membership that
the weekend tournament
was the biggest yet. The
Hermiston Youth Basketball
Club hosts four, with the
final one — For the Love of
the Game — scheduled for
Feb. 9-10.
The Moriartys said the
weekend would likely cost
their family about $500-
$600 — including lodg-
ing, meals, gas and snacks.
Roldan, whose daughter
plays on the Southeast Boise
team, estimated her week-
end costs at around $500.
In October, Robin Evans,
the Southeast Boise coach,
reserved rooms for the team
at the Holiday Inn Express.
Selling points, she said,
included a complimentary
breakfast and swimming
pool.
“Also, it’s centrally
located with the games and
restaurants,” she said.
Roldan said they heard
about the Hermiston tour-
nament from other Boi-
se-area teams. In addition
to a shorter driving distance
than going to Portland, she
It’s time to
GET OUT
and GO!
$
said the gymnasiums were
more conveniently located.
“The schools and their
facilities are amazing,”
Blaine Moriarty added.
Also, Usher said little
things like having food ven-
dors outside a couple of the
schools and onsite custom
printing of tournament gear
are added touches that peo-
ple like.
Anna Francis of AJ’s
Printed Apparel had stations
set up at the high school
and Armand Larive Mid-
dle School. In addition to
T-shirts, sweatshirts and dri-
fit long-sleeved shirts with
tournament logos, people
could have their names and
uniform numbers added.
Francis, who launched
her business in 1996, gives
a percentage of her sales to
the Hermiston Youth Bas-
ketball Club.
Also, Usher said she
prints up special shirts for
the winning team and the
second place team. The
tournament logo gear, Usher
said, is a great way to pro-
mote and market the event.
“The tournament is a
great opportunity for our
community,” Francis said.
“It’s great to see that many
people in town. It’s a lot of
work but it’s worth it.”
There’s strength in
numbers, and Good Shep-
herd Medical Center is
hoping to capitalize on
that idea as they encour-
age community members
to join them in a national
exercise challenge.
The hospital’s Educa-
tion Department has cre-
ated a team for the “Billion
Steps Challenge,” an effort
by the American Public
Health Association to get
participants to collectively
walk one billion steps.
The challenge started at
the beginning of 2019,
and participants have until
April 7 to join the “Herm-
iston Walks” team.
Jaime Crowell, the hos-
pital’s Community Health
Educator, said so far there
are 3,000 participants
nationwide, which have
so far reached 300 mil-
lion steps. But only five
people have signed up for
the Hermiston team. The
Hermiston team’s goal is
to collectively walk 5 mil-
lion steps by the end of the
challenge.
“If you break that down
to 10,000 steps a day, that’s
only 50 people that need to
do that many steps, for 10
days,” Crowell said. “And
we have way more than 10
days left.”
But more than reaching
the goal, Crowell said the
point of the challenge is to
get people exercising.
“It’s to show that physi-
cal activity can be fun, and
a good way to jumpstart
physical activity is through
competition or doing a
challenge,” she said.
She encouraged fam-
ilies to make their own
goals, or compete with
each other to reach a cer-
tain number of steps.
Participants can sign up
for the challenge by creat-
ing a Movespring account,
where they can sync their
SIGN UP
Hermiston Walks
Go to https://link.moves-
pring.com/join
Go to “sign up now”
enter the organization code:
aPHa2019
scroll down and click on “join
team”
search for the team name
“Hermiston Walks.”
device to track their steps.
They can also manually
enter their steps, or enter
the distance they walked
or ran.
She said although the
team is named “Hermis-
ton Walks,” it’s open to
anyone in the surrounding
areas, too.
In a few months, Crow-
ell said the hospital hopes
to debut another tool that
they hope will encourage
people to walk more —
the Northeast Oregon Pre-
scription Trails website.
The website, modeled after
a program in New Mex-
ico, will have a catalog of
local parks and trails, with
photos, descriptions of the
trails, and things users need
to be aware of, like acces-
sibility for wheelchairs.
“Doctors, dentists, even
veterinarians can write
prescriptions for exercise
as part of management of
chronic diseases,” Crow-
ell said. “Exercise has been
proven to be as effective if
not more in prevention of
diseases.”
She said that she hopes
the tools will help the com-
munity shift toward relying
on exercise as a sustainable
way to improve health.
Crowell said there are
other ways people can
learn to form healthy hab-
its if they need some extra
help. The hospital has free
classes, like a physical
activity class, and a “jump-
start weight loss through
exercise” class.
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