The Acalanes wrestling team hosts a poker tournament fundraiser
By Cypress Reid, Will Miller, and Kylie Kaplan, Head Copy Editor, Social Media Manager, and Online Editor
As evening falls and leaves begin to change, gentle laughter, poker chips, and the shuffle of chairs emanate from behind closed doors. Inside, cards flash, chips move, and a tournament progresses. People eat and drink while conversing with one another, and the evening rolls on.
The Acalanes wrestling team partnered with Diablo View Rotary to host a poker tournament on Nov. 7 at the Creekside Commons. The event, “A Night of Texas Hold ‘Em,” aimed to raise funds for the wrestling team and provide a night of fun.
While wrestlers could not play in the tournament, they contributed in other ways. One of which was serving food and drink to players.
“People under 18 years old are not allowed to participate,” Wrestling Captain and junior Lilah Kring said. “However, wrestlers from the team show up to work at the event, and we get free dinner when we do.”
Wrestlers showed up early to help Rotary members set up the event–moving tables and chairs, serving food, and helping the event run smoothly.
“Those tables are heavy,” Fundraising Chairperson for Diablo View Rotary Jerry Maya said. When I first rolled up here at [4:00 p.m.] today, there were four or five wrestlers already ready to move tables, and I’m getting older; I’m like, you guys move the tables. Within 15, 20 minutes, we had all those tables set up and ready to rock ‘n’ roll. Our club is a bunch of old middle-aged people, so anytime you young guys are out here, we score.”
Community members and local businesses attended the event, providing the wrestling team funding and community interest in the sport.
“It feels great to have local support,” Event coordinator and parent Beth Kring said. “Events like the poker night wouldn’t be possible without their help. They do a lot to organize the event and help cover some of the costs of running the event, such as the venue and catering.”
To help host the event, Diablo View Rotary contributed equipment, making it more cost effective and efficient.
“What we’ve done as a Rotary Club is that we’ve decided that we were able to put on our own poker games,” Maya said. “Usually, when people put on poker charity tournaments, they use an outside vendor to put on the game with tables, dealers, chips, cards, that sort of thing, but we kind of transformed our group and decided that we were going to buy the equipment tables, cards, etc. find dealers, and that has allowed us to cut off a huge cost of putting on this event.”
Diablo View Rotary has organized similar charity events for the past four years, and recently partnered with the wrestling team.
“The Rotary hosts this tournament a couple of times a year, and we asked last year if they would be willing to co-host with us and split the proceeds, and they surprisingly said yes,” Beth Kring said. “The Rotary does a lot of the backend work for the tournament. They generate the flyer, the website, the ticket purchasing link, the logistics of securing the space, and food and beverage sales.”
The wrestling team relies on the poker tournament as their primary fundraising event.
“Any community support from events like the poker night directly impacts the team,” Lilah Kring said. “The school district budget for wrestling doesn’t cover all the expenses of running the team, so we rely on fundraising events and family and friend donations to supplement the cost.”
Attendees and organizers considered the event a success, as it helped support the Acalanes Wrestling team and provided a fun night for attendees.
“The first couple of years, we partnered with a couple of other organizations, and in the last two we got the opportunity to partner with Acalanes Wrestling, and it’s turned out great for both of our organizations,” Maya said.
*Emmett Fretwell, Head of Photography, contributed interviews to this story.
