{"id":1321,"date":"2026-03-09T03:44:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T03:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/?p=1321"},"modified":"2026-03-09T03:44:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T03:44:05","slug":"granny-basketball-brings-community-fun-and-fundraising-to-monticello","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/?p=1321","title":{"rendered":"Granny Basketball brings community fun and fundraising to Monticello"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">A unique twist on basketball brought laughter, community spirit, and fundraising to Monticello Sunday. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">The Grant Wood Gothics faced off against a team of Jones County \u201ccelebrities\u201d in a Granny Basketball game at Monticello High School, all in support of the Jones County Safe and Healthy Youth Coalition.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Players wore 1920s-style uniforms, complete with bloomers, long socks, and three-quarter length shirts, and followed 1920s-era rules, meaning no running or jumping on the court. A special \u201cjail\u201d added another layer of fun for anyone breaking the rules or showing too much skin, with audience members able to help bail out players for a donation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Jennifer Husmann, Project Coordinator for the Jones County Safe and Healthy Youth Coalition, said the event is about more than just basketball.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\u201cIt&#8217;s raising money for the coalition. Our coalition works to reduce youth substance use and also promote mental wellness,\u201d Husmann said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">For the players, it\u2019s just as much about fun and camaraderie. Veteran Granny Basketball player Joyce Kitson said the game gives older women a chance to \u201cregain our youth\u201d while supporting the community.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\u201cGranny Basketball started in 2005 as a way for us older ladies to kind of regain our youth, I guess you call it, and we play old-fashioned rules. This is my 11th year and we have a lot of fun,\u201d Kitson said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">The community turnout included local leaders and familiar faces: the Monticello Police Chief, the school superintendent, Chamber of Commerce director, and other staff and family members joined the \u201ccelebrities\u201d team. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Halftime entertainment featured the Midland \u201cShake It Off\u201d Dance Company, along with a game of knockout basketball for audience participation and prizes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Husmann said events like this are a fun way to bring people together while supporting a meaningful cause.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\u201cThis is such a fun way to bring the community together,\u201d Husmann said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">The Granny Basketball teams also use the event to support their own activities, including travel to the national tournament. But for Monticello, the focus was on local impact, community fun, and raising funds for youth mental health and substance use prevention programs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Admission was a free-will donation, with proceeds benefiting the coalition and its ongoing efforts in Jones County.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A unique twist on basketball brought laughter, community spirit, and fundraising to Monticello Sunday. The Grant Wood Gothics faced off against a team of Jones County \u201ccelebrities\u201d in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parkmania.pl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}