The girls varsity basketball seniors’ shoes shuffle on the gym floor as they pass the ball back and forth. When the team scores a basket, the girls on the bleachers jump up and down, cheering at their teammates on the court.
Homestead had a home game against Pewaukee on Dec. 21, 2024. The Girls Basketball Alumnae Game was created to bring attention to the players and highlight the community of the Homestead girls basketball program.
Liz Sweet, Class of ‘06, organized the game to reconnect with other alumnae. She was inspired by her time in girls basketball and was hoping that this event would fill the stands for the girls so the current athletes’ hard work is recognized.
Sweet remembered when she was a student at Homestead.
“Honestly when I was playing in the early 2000s,” she said, “it was pretty sleepy in the stands, and I would love to change that for the girls that are playing now going forward. I would love for this alumnae group to play a part in bringing people to these games. I think if you are playing out on the court and no one is there it is sort of silently discouraging. You wonder why everyone is going to this game and they work really hard. So I think our girls on the court are really deserving of all these special features that we are doing.”
Coach Kellie Baran recognized this too, when she said, “The girls thrive on having packed gyms. When it’s loud, and the crowd’s into it, it creates an energy in the gym that our players thrive off of that hopefully puts on a good show.”
Sweet has been working over the past couple years to make this possible. She wants to not only fill the stands but also to help alumnae realize that together they can support the girls on the court.
Sweet said, “I worked with the former head coach of the girls program a couple years ago, and we got coffee and were talking about that there wasn’t an alumni group already and she gave me the green light to try to start one.”
From there Sweet started a newsletter to get former girls basketball players connected and make people more aware of the girls Homestead basketball schedule. Last year she organized a series of open gyms on Saturdays, and this year she changed the approach to this one targeted game to welcome everyone back.
Then Sweet worked with Erich Hinterstocker, athletic director, and Coach Tony Wolf to plan and send out a save to date to the newsletter of alumnae. Sweet then brought in a face painter and some balloons and other fun things for kids to do.
The next step then was connecting all former alumnae to come to the game. Sweet said she used her email list and contacted close friends to let them know what she was doing. It took this and contacting multiple graduates from years past to get as many women in attendance as possible. She said that she hoped that those women she contacted would have their own connection that would help spread the word.
Chloe Marotta, Class of ‘18, was one of the many women Sweet contacted.
“I brought back our Snapchat group messages,” Marotta said. “I sent it all in the Snapchat group messages and then those I had the email to I would just forward in email to them and then Liz had a flyer and a banner that went out to all of her closest friends.”
One of the main objectives of this game was to promote women in sports. The Alumnae Game accomplished this objective in many aspects but now it’s up to the students to carry this momentum forward. Sweet suggested what students can do in this regard is to just get out to the game and be loud!
Marotta suggested something she did in high school. “We would put it in the Facebook student section, post it up there and then the guys and girls would come to the games… Social media is obviously the biggest one just to get people involved and word of mouth. Just going to school and saying yea blah blah blah plays so well. It was good to see her play and then they would wanna come to the next one.”
Not only are Sweet and Marotta hoping to expand student attendance but also to create a bigger alumnae game next year.
“I would love to do it every year. I would love to make it bigger next year and figure out what worked this year and to try new things to get as many alumni as we can in the stands for the girls,” Sweet said. “I would love to bring in sponsors at some point. I would like to get business on board to sponsor and to invite local businesses. I love the idea of getting some live music in here to have it be really energetic and fun. More families, more hype, more energy for the girls on the court.”
Marotta brought up the idea of having the alumnae play in the game. “I feel like having the alumnae play in a game would be so fun to see or playing against the highschool girls would be fun and it’s like a fun environment to get people involved,” Marotta said.
The alumnae are planning to make this event fun for everyone because of how important basketball was for them in creating the person they are today. Sweet and Marotta both mentioned all the important life lessons basketball taught them.
Sweet said, “It was such a confidence builder in high school. I was a little bit soft spoken. I really credit sports and my experience here at Homestead as building my confidence in the professional world… I wasn’t always aware of what I brought to the table so it was helpful for a coach to say, ‘hey you’re good at that keep doing this.’”
Marotta also talked about the importance of basketball in her life. “Coach Corey Wolf at the time was just very great in teaching me leadership skills that I used in college tremendously, especially coming in as a freshman at least knowing some sort of leadership quality or discipline was important to me to play in college.” She said, “She helped shape a ton of who I was and also just having great teammates and different people around me.”
All of these women are an inspiration for the girls currently playing on the court and remind players what it really means to play basketball. Even though Homestead lost this game, with a score of 55 to 40, players and fans alike still enjoyed the game.
Coach Baran highlighted the real importance of the game which is not winning or losing. She said, “Girls that are playing [basketball] now… remember why you started, why you love it and let that drive your passion to play because at the end of the day we want you to be having fun out on the court.”