Central hoops teams lend helping hands to Texas

Central Dutch Athletics

PELLA — With devastating floods from Tropical Storm Harvey affecting thousands of people on the gulf coast of Texas, the Central College men’s and women’s basketball teams are among the many programs across the country joining in to care for the victims.

Kelvin Sampson, the head men’s coach at the University of Houston, tweeted out a challenge to basketball coaches of all levels across the country to send t-shirts, shoes and other gear to Houston to provide for those in need. Dutch women’s basketball coach Joe Steinkamp took notice and started gathering program T-shirts.

“More than anything, we saw the tweet from Coach Sampson calling out for help,” he said. “There’s a lot of people in need and we wanted to help in any way that we could.”

Central men’s coach Craig Douma and Steinkamp also heard from former player Zach Cooper ’10, who Steinkamp had coached during his time with the Dutch men’s team. Cooper was the video coordinator for the University of Houston’s women’s team before leaving in May.

The hurricane hits closer to home for several members of the men’s team, as three players are Texas residents. The mother of Houston native Andre Johnson (senior, Alief Hastings HS) is still unable to leave her home due to the torrential flooding on the streets around her.

“I felt it was really important for our team to do something positive in response to this catastrophe,” Douma said. “It’s a small gesture and I wish we could do more but this is easy for us to send something that will be useful for the people there.”

For more information on how to help, please go to the University of Houston’s website http://www.uhcougars.com/genrel/082817aaa.html.