DJ's Court Tourney

08/05/2023

After every tournament, I would always stop by to visit Christine and leave a token from the event (medal, T-shirt, etc.). While we didn’t have a tournament this time, I still wanted to pay my respects on the day we would have hosted the 2023 tourney. I left an old shirt that I made when we first dedicated the event to her. It felt appropriate to finally leave it behind in her honor.

To say I’m a bit sad we weren’t able to make the 2023 tourney work would be an understatement. But I also know that hosting 19 events isn’t a small feat either. It’s been quite the journey. 🏀

07/14/2023

Hey everyone.

Short version: DJ's Court Tourney 2023 has been canceled. We didn't have the numbers to make it work. Money paid will be refunded. We will raise funds through a GoFundMe page (https://gofund.me/f29ef1b0) with two prizes that donors will be eligible for.

Long version: It is with a weighted heart that I have to cancel DJ’s Court Tourney this year. This isn’t an easy decision and one that I’ve wrestled with all of July. Simply put, we don’t have the interest I thought we had to bring the event back. We had some registrations, but not enough to fill out a bracket.

At the moment, I’m not sure what this means for future events. I need to recalibrate and see if it makes sense to try and host the event next year and beyond. As for this year, I knew we were up against the odds trying to revive an event after a 3-year hiatus, and that gap proved to be too much to overcome. I wish I had better news and I assure you this one hurts … a lot.

For those who paid already, I will refund your money. Despite the solemn news, I still plan to raise funds for the Christine Rathke Memorial Fund. I started a GoFundMe page in the hopes of giving Mrs. Rathke a sizable donation in lieu of the tournament.

Additionally, I received two prize donations from Habush, Habush and Rottier and SportClips, which I will use as incentives for donations. The main prize is four Brewers tickets to the Friday, Sept. 1 game against the Phillies. The tickets are in Sect. 122, row 4 and include preferred parking. Every $25 donation will count as a raffle entry ($50 will count as 2 entries and so on). I will do a live stream via the DJ’s Court Tourney page on Aug. 17 to award the tickets.

The second prize is 3 free haircut vouchers at SportClips and a bottle of 4-in-1 hair and body wash. That prize will be available to everyone who donates, regardless of the amount. I will draw the winner of that prize on Aug. 17 as well. The fundraiser will end on Aug. 16.

Donations can be made through the GoFundMe page, or directly to me via cash (in person), check (mail to my address), PayPal, Vemno (-Slater) or CashApp ($DJSlater17).

While I know this isn’t good news, I hope we can still raise money in Christine’s honor. Thank you to everyone for your help.

Christine Rathke was a dear friend of mine who played basketball at Franklin High School fro… DJ Slater needs your support for Christine Rathke Memorial Fund

06/15/2023

We've got a lot of verbal commitments (thank you), but not as many full commitments (registration and payment). It's nothing we haven't seen before, but we ask that you start getting those full commitments in sooner than later. By July 4, we have to decide whether we start ordering prizes or ... you get the idea.

Thank you to those who have fully committed to the tourney. As for everyone else, you know what to do.

All the links you need are below. Cost is $80 per team/$20 per free agent.
Team registration: https://djslater.typeform.com/to/xcwj1n
Free agent registration: https://djslater.typeform.com/to/WfujEy
Payment: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DJsCourtTourney
Venmo: -Slater
CashApp: $DJSlater17

05/17/2023

A very Happy Birthday to the founder himself. Send him some birthday love and don’t forget to register. August 5th will get here fast!

05/01/2023

It's May 1. Do you know where your registration is?

We're loving the excitement around the return of the tourney. Now is the time to start getting registered and paid to make sure you have a spot in DJ's Court Tourney 2023.

All the links you need are below. Cost is $80 per team/$20 per free agent.

Team registration: https://djslater.typeform.com/to/xcwj1n
Free agent registration: https://djslater.typeform.com/to/WfujEy
Payment: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DJsCourtTourney
Venmo: -Slater
CashApp: $DJSlater17

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04/14/2023

It's been a while hasn't it? Let's change that. Let's bring DJ's Court Tourney back!

Yes, you read that right. DJ's Court Tourney will return this summer.

The Details:

DJ's Court Tourney 2023
8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023
Franklin High School
8222 S. 51st St., Franklin, WI 53132
www.djscourttourney.com

Cost (team): $80
Cost (free agent): $20

Helpful links:

Team registration: https://djslater.typeform.com/to/xcwj1n
Free agent registration: https://djslater.typeform.com/to/WfujEy
Online payment: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/DJsCourtTourney

The Finer Details:

The three payment options are cash, check and online. All cash payments should be made in person. If you opt to send a check, make it out to DJ Slater and send it to my address. If you go the online route, use the above "online payment" link. I also can accept payments via Venmo and CashApp.

Once I have your registration and payment, your spot is officially reserved for the tourney. In past years, spots filled up quickly, so please register and pay in advance to guarantee your place. I will not reserve spots for anyone unless those two conditions are met.

In 2019, we had our third-best year financially, raising $2,117 for the Christine Rathke Memorial Scholarship Fund. Collectively, we've pulled in $26,000 for this cause since 2003. Let's see if we can push that grand total to $30,000 this year.

Thank you for your time. I hope to see as many of you as possible on the court on Aug. 5.

03/21/2023

If you don't have plans for August 5th, you might want to block that morning off. Just a thought (more on this coming soon) 👀

02/16/2023

20 years and you still remain in our hearts and minds Christine. Your impact continues to shine. Miss you now and always. ❤️23❤️

07/04/2022

Hey everyone. Apologies for our silence. Despite our best efforts, the revival of the tourney will have to wait another year.

Long story short, the gym we use is under construction all summer. Prior to that, they were taking COVID measures. While losing a gym doesn’t usually stop us, we’ve discovered that it’s really hard to secure another one without substantial costs. It would basically knock out the funds we’d raise through the event.

Fortunately this isn’t the end of the tourney, just a longer delay than we anticipated. After the summer, we’ll begin our efforts to bring the tourney back in 2023.

Enjoy the 4th everyone. And, of course, Happy Birthday Christine. 🏀❤️

02/22/2022

Hey everyone. Yes, we are still here. I know we've been quiet for much of the past two years. A world-changing event will do that.

I wanted to let everyone know where things stand as of today. Our regular gym - Indian Community School - is not renting out its space to outside groups, a likely COVID-related measure. Because of that, I'm in the process of looking for an alternative location. This tends to be the first major hurdle in hosting this event.

I've heard some suggestions on places we could try, but the most essential requirement will be finding a gym that will allow us to rent it for little to no cost. We've been incredibly fortunate all these years to not incur these costs, which would have easily eaten into the majority of the money we raised for the tourney. I don't expect many gyms to be so kind, but we will see what we can do with the connections we have.

If we can secure a gym, the next step will be drumming up momentum again for this event. After a two-year hiatus, it's difficult to say how the response will be. Perhaps there's more interest than before or maybe we'll struggle to field 8 teams.

There's also an additional hurdle - how COVID will play out going into the summer. If you would have asked me about the tourney over Christmas, I would have said it's likely not happening given the latest variant. But if the pandemic is truly winding down, then we should have a chance for this to resume without complications. It's a situation we'll have to monitor as it unfolds.

All that being said, my goal is to bring the tourney back in 2022. I'm sharing this with everyone so they are aware of where we're at with that state of things. I don't want to look too far down the road just yet. The first step is securing the gym. If we can get that, the likelihood of the event only gets stronger.

I will keep everyone updated as I know more. Thank you everyone for your patience and continued support.

02/16/2022

Hard to believe we lost you 19 years ago today. Even as time passes, you’re always remembered fondly. Much love always Christine ❤️23❤️

06/04/2021

Hey everyone,

I'm not a fan of tourney hiatuses. I wasn't fond of it in 2001 and it hurt even worse in 2020. While I know many of you (myself included) have returned to the court, the reality is not every place is ready to give us access to a gym. And thus, it looks like we're forced to take another hiatus.

DJ's Court Tourney 2021 has officially been canceled. Even seeing those words gives me pause, but it's the reality we're faced with at this time. Sure, there are some alternative options (using outdoor courts, making the event smaller), but all of you have come to expect a certain experience from this tournament and I don't want to cheapen it with anything less than stellar.

While I'm not fond of this news, we will set our sights on 2022 to bring this event back better than before. After all, we still have a 20th anniversary to celebrate (and we will).

Continue honing your skills ballers and gentlemen. We'll be back on the court for this cause in due time. I'm sorry that I don't have better news, but I do appreciate everyone's understanding and patience. We're not done yet. We're just taking a longer-than-expected break.