This month, hundreds of young athletes will step up to the foul line in gyms throughout the Diocese of Trenton as they compete in the 45th annual Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship. There, they’ll dribble a basketball and send it soaring 15 feet toward the hoop, in hope of hearing a satisfying swoosh.
The contest, created by the fraternal organization in 1972, invites boys and girls from nine to 14 years old to compete against others in their age and gender groups in Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties. Each competitor is allowed three warm-up shots, followed by 15 attempts from the foul line.
Results by division are tallied, and winners progress to the district level. From there, the top scoring boy and girl in each age group advances to compete in the diocesan finals. Those winners then compete against the winners from other New Jersey dioceses at the state level.
The organization estimates 350,000 athletes participate in local rounds throughout the nation each year. Knights of Columbus Trenton Diocese free throw chairman John A. Gazis noted the event is entertaining and encourages good sportsmanship.
“It’s wonderful to watch the children compete, each with their own shooting ritual,” he said. “Though they are competitive, they congratulate each other about their successes and are really sportsmanlike.”
Local council contests are ongoing throughout January, with district shoot-outs planned in February. The diocesan-level free throw championship is scheduled for mid-March, while state finals are slated for April. Consult your local Knights of Columbus council for dates, locations and competition rules.
In the 2016 contest, a pair of sisters from Our Lady of Good Counsel, Moorestown, each took home state titles in their respective age brackets. Riley Hiller, 12, sunk 20-of-25 free throw attempts in her first year of competition, and Kallie Hiller, 13, also went 20-for-25 to claim her second state title. Kallie also won in the 12-year-old girls’ category in 2015.
The Knights of Columbus, established in 1882 by the Venerable Father Michael J. McGivney, is the largest Catholic family fraternal service organization in the world. In 2015, its more than 1.9 million members in more than 15,300 local councils donated more than $175 million and volunteered 73.5 million hours of their time to charity.