Hoops for a Cause fundraises for Belgrade's Gabby Weber

Throughout the summer, Montana State University-Northern women’s basketball coach Chris Mouat and other Frontier Conference coaches have spent their time coaching younger players at basketball camps. This weekend, many of them will come together for Hoops for a Cause in Belgrade.

This year’s Hoops for a Cause chose Gabby Weber as their cause to raise money for. Weber has been dealing with a rare vascular disease in her legs the past few years. She discovered her condition after she collapsed during a high school basketball game in 2018. After several surgeries and physical therapy, she got back on the court 14 months later. After she committed to play basketball for the University of Montana Western, her disease has unfortunately kept her from playing collegiate basketball yet.

"(She’s) just a fighter and somebody who’s in our league and so I think it was a really easy choice this year,” Mouat said.

Hoops for a Cause will have a basketball camp in Belgrade this weekend to support Weber. At this camp, basketball players from kindergarten to eighth grade will work on their skills and practice drills under the coaching from women’s and men’s basketball coaches from across the Frontier Conference. Mouat expects the kids at the camp to mostly be from the Belgrade area as the Frontier Conference has done extensive advertising for the camp there.

The money made from the camp will go toward Weber’s medical expenses. Hoops for a Cause is also using an auction to raise money for Weber. Every football team from the Frontier Conference has donated a football helmet to be auctioned off. The University of Montana and Montana State University also gave Hoops for a Cause football helmets to auction off. Hoops for a Cause also has a GoFundMe page for people to donate money but most of their money will come from corporate sponsors.

Heading into this weekend, Hoops for a Cause hoped to raise at least $10,000 for Weber. Thanks to their online auctions for the football helmets, they have already surpassed that.

“If all the money comes in that’s been promised, we’re going to be above $10,000 and that’s pretty amazing,” Mouat said. “In the medical world, $10,000 isn’t that much but for us being a bunch of basketball coaches and players, spending one day to help somebody, it’s pretty amazing what we can do.”

This year’s Hoops for a Cause will be the fifth in the event’s history. Mouat came up with the idea for the camp after the tragic death of a girl from Butte. After that tragedy, he reached out to basketball coaches across the Frontier Conference to organize the event that has chosen a different cause every year to raise money for.

“We’re just really thankful for all the coaches for what they’ve done to help us year after year,” Mouat said. “That’s the best way to say it because we’ve evolved into something pretty big where we can really make a significant contribution to somebody who’s in need and that’s what it’s all about so it’s pretty cool.”