NU Basketball Team Spends Time in Darrington
DARRINGTON, Wash. – The Northwest University men’s basketball team took part in their annual team retreat last weekend at Lake Cavanaugh near the Arlington Barrington area and spent time in the town of Darrington giving some time to the communities of Darrington and Oso. The team offered a free basketball camp to elementary through high school aged young people from the area.
It was just a little over eighteen months ago, March 22, 2014, the town of Oso was hit with the tragedy of a major landslide which killed 43 people and affected the lives of many in the communities of Oso and Darrington from which they still continue to recover from to this day.
Darrington and Oso, are small mountain towns in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, north of Seattle, and stands where two rivers once joined in a valley between the Sauk and the Stillaguamish rivers.
The men’s team felt it would be of service to the communities to share their skill and knowledge with the young people and show people of the area they are not forgotten. NU head coach, John Van Dyke contacted the athletic director/principal at Darrington High School about using the Logger’s gymnasium for the day and the camp became reality. The Darrington gym is one of the old traditional wooden gymansiums, similar to the Hickory High gym in the movie, "Hoosiers," well maintained and a product of the timber industry, one of the primary industries in the Darrington-Oso area.
The Eagle team, coaches and managers spent several hours running the campers through drills and competition hoping to develop their skills and give them an appreciation for the game. While in the area, the team also made a trip to the Oso memorial which was built on the site of the mud slide.
“It was a good day for all of us and hopefully, we gave some of the young people of the community an enjoyable experience although, I think we came away with more than they did,” said Coach John Van Dyke. “It helps our players to put things into perspective and feel the satisfaction of sharing their time with others.”