K of C Free-Throw Championship Gets Underway

The opening Council Divsion competition of the 2008 Knights of Columbus Free-Throw Championship for "Msgr. John's Knights" will be held on Sunday, February 3rd from 1 to 3 P.M. in McCloskey Auditorium, New Hyde Park Road and Dartmouth Street, Garden City. according to Grand Knight Basil Bliss and Event Chairman, "Jay" Lynch.

According to the Knights Official Free-Throw Championship Guide, "Last year more than 170,000 sharpshooters participated in over 3,000 local competitions."

Entries are welcomed from all boys and girls, ages 10 to 14, in the local community unless (please check) there are school or athletic association eligibility conflicts.

If continuing successfully, winners of the opening competiton advance to the District and State competitons. Entrants at all levels compete only against entrants of the same age and gender.

Winners of the Council Division will be honored with handsome trophies to be presented at a "Pizzas and Trophies" family get-together at St. Anne's Cafeteria prior to a Knights monthly meeting. All entrants in the opening competition receive a Certificate of Participation and winners will receive a CouncilChampion certificate.

In the Council competition, each contestant receives three warm-up tosses followed by 15 consecutive free-throw attempts. To break a tie, contestants take a second round of five free throws. Successive rounds of five free throws each continue until a winner emerges.

Among other variations in height of basket and foul line to basket distance , a women's regulation size basketball is used in the girls' competition and in the 10 and 11 years boys and girls competitions.

In the event a winner at any level cannnot participate in the next level of competition, the second-place winner should represent the area for that age group.

"Msgr. John's Knights" entries have generally competed comfortably in the 17th District Championships that follow the Council Division tourney.

International Champions are announced by the K of C International headquarters, based on scores from the state level competitions.

At the February 3rd session, entrants are required to produce written parental consent and a photo-copy of their birth certificate. Entry forms are available at registration.

Parents, families and classmates of the entrants are especially invited to attend the opening competition. Per popular demand, Chairman "Jay" Lynch has scheduled another fun-filled "Knockout Basketball" exhibition during a break in the tournament.

The Knights of Columbus is an international Catholic family fraternal service organization with nearly 1.7 million members in over 12,500 local councils. Last year Knights donated 60 million volunteer hours and $130 million to charitable and benevolent causes, sponsoring projects to benefit their church, council, communities, families and youth.

"Msgr. John's Knights" represent Msgr. John C. Seidenschwang Council K of C, 35 Dartmouth St., Garden City, NY 11530.