Donkey Basketball

I, along with five of my fellow Radiographic Science program students, participated in ISU's first ever donkey basketball tournament. For those who don't know, I am both VERY intimidated by horses and plagued by a severe lack of hand-eye coordination. So why I agreed to ride a donkey and play basketball at the same time, I still don't know. Regardless, Quintona, Akiko, Nicole, Holly, Ashley, and I had a lot of fun, which was worth the sore muscles. Randy, Teresa, Dustin and their friends Matt and Annette (who happened to be visiting from Boise) came to witness the chaos.

There are five players on the court at a time, four are riders while the fifth stays in the center of the court and must run to the end of the court and throw the ball in when the other team scores (each basket being worth one point). The riders must remain with their donkey at all times, including when they dismount to retrieve the ball. In other words, when the ball is on the ground, you have to get off and try to drag your donkey over, pick up the ball, and get back on your donkey before you can pass the ball. Yes, it is as difficult as it sounds. We were very excited to win our first game (3-2), but blame our loss in the semifinals to bad donkey choice (they just wanted to wander around and not be near the basket).


Here you can see my one and only shot at the basket. I missed, of course, because I was still recovering from my donkey deciding to run full out toward the basket with me concentrating on 1) holding onto the ball and 2) not falling off. The other girls said that the terrified look on my face was priceless. Quintona says that it looked like I was about to cry.

Akiko is attempting to drag her donkey in the general direction of the ball. As you can see, these donkeys didn't really like to move once you got off. They'd just sit there, plant their feet, and look at you.