Rally in the Valley tips off tonight

The third annual Rally in the Valley Basketball Tournament is this weekend.

Thirty-one teams from Idaho, Montana, and Washington will descend upon Kellogg’s three local gymnasiums for the two-day event.

The event was created as a way for some of the local AAU programs to raise funds for their team (travel costs and entry fees) in hopes that the financial demand would be less for the players and their families.

“This is a great event for our community and for our kids,” event organizer Lisa Cheney said. “This is our third time putting on the tournament and it has grown every year. We started it as a fundraiser to pay for other AAU tournaments that our team wanted to attend and to give our kids a chance to play without paying another fee.”

Like Cheney said, the event initially began as an easy way to raise a few funds for the teams, but with all of the growth each year the event has become a highlight on the region’s youth basketball scene.

“It is exciting to have 31 teams coming to Kellogg,” Cheney said. “I think we knew it could get bigger, but we never imagined that it would get this big this fast.”

There will be games for age groups ranging from third grade all the way to eighth grade, and there are several local teams from the Kellogg and Wallace areas who will be competing with the likes of Medical Lake, Bonners Ferry, Lakeland, Superior, and St. Maries to name a few.

Games begin at 4 p.m. today at Kellogg Middle School and at Sunnyside Gym and will continue through Saturday night.