Aspiring basketball stars ages 8 to 13 competed in the Elks Lodge annual Hoop Shoot, Sunday Dec. 15 at the Gleason Family YMCA.

The competition provides children an opportunity to show off their free throw skills with 25 shots divided into 10 and 15 shot sets. Shooters are split into three age groups with the most accurate kid in each group receiving a trophy.

The top competitors at the Elks Lodge #73 have the opportunity to compete against the best free throw shooters in the district, then the region and finally in the nation.

The winner of the National Free Throw Finals will have their name and photo displayed at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

“The goal here is to promote the children and get them out to exercise and get them out to learn a sport,” said Elks Lodge organizer Guy DiAntonio.

Vanessa Lopes brought her son Jesse and daughter Anaya to take shots from the free throw line Sunday.

“This is completely out of [Jesse’s] comfort zone and he really loves basketball so he just wants to keep pushing himself to do something different,” Lopes said.

Although turnout was relatively light this year, DiAntonio said in the past as many as 50 children have taken their turn at the line in previous Hoop Shoot’s.

DiAntonio hopes that next year the Elks Lodge can increase participation with the use of QR codes to register kids in advance.

“The Hoop Shoot is really the pride and joy of the youth programs that the elks run,” DiAntonio said.