Hampton hosts Harlem Wizards

The Wizards from Harlem are heading to Hampton.

“They say it’s kind of like a combination of a basketball game with a Broadway show,” Michelle Csajka Coll said. “It’s just a lot of fun.”

As president of the Hampton Boys Basketball Booster Club, she joins her colleagues in seeking ways to raise money to benefit the township school district’s players in seventh through 12th grades.

For something new this year, the club is hosting the Harlem Wizards for a Dec. 7 extravaganza from 7 to 9 p.m. at Hampton High School.

“It’s an idea that I had seen and been interested in for a while,” Coll said. “We think this has the potential to be this really cool community event.”

The Wizards incorporate plenty of audience involvement, inviting spectators to volunteer for a variety of contests and acts. At the end of the night, all students in attendance can venture onto the court for a dance celebration.

As for the game on the court, the Wizards will be facing a team of Hampton teachers, coaches, administrators and even the school resource officer.

“You don’t have to be the best basketball player,” Coll said. “You just have to be willing to go out there and have fun.”

The booster club supports about 65 boys a year, from the youngest middle school players to the high school varsity team, on which Coll’s son Robert is a forward.

“We pretty much cover anything that the school district doesn’t,” she said, such as warm-up suits, equipment bags and shooting shirts. “And we feed them, a lot. They take long bus rides, so we tend to send them with lots of food for the way home.”

Founded in 1962, the Harlem Wizards have played more than 15,000 games throughout the United States that have raised over $25 million for schools and charitable causes. The Wizards have also played in more than two dozen other countries on six continents.

Alumni include the late Connie Hawkins, who led the Pittsburgh Pipers to the first American Basketball Association championship in 1967; National Basketball Association legends Elvin Hayes and Nate Archibald; and Nancy Lieberman, a Women’s National Basketball Association star and Hall of Fame member.

For the Hampton event, tickets are $15 for student admission, $15 for general admission, $30 for reserved and $50 for Courtside Plus, which includes a meet and greet with some of the Wizards.

To purchase tickets and for more information, visit www.harlemwizards.com.