Pine Prairie holds donkey basketball games

PINE PRAIRIE -- The Pine Prairie High gymnasium found itself packed with a crowd looking to enjoy some basketball last Friday night. However, this was not your ordinary basketball game. Instead, the Pine Prairie last blast seniors were playing this common game with the unusual twist of having to perform while riding donkeys.
The students, teachers, and parents that took part in the unique sport of donkey basketball provided spectators with laughs for nearly the entirety of the three games they played.
Pine Prairie senior Paige Whittington said the idea for a donkey basketball game to be used as a fundraiser for their after graduation excursion actually came from the parents. “They thought it would be lots of fun and would gather a pretty good crowd,” said Whittington.
With the stands filled before the start of the games, it looked like the parents were right. Donkey basketball brought an enthusiastic crowd to watch Pine Prairie students, teachers, and parents attempt to successfully shoot hoops while riding donkey back.
The game proved to be challenging, which made for great entertainment. Whittington said, “The funnest part of the game was actually trying to stay on the donkey.”
In addition to watching riders attempt to stay on their donkey, the crowd also witnessed young and old chasing down their donkeys around the gym. It essentially became a game between riders and their donkeys instead of the other team.
It doesn’t seem like being thrown off of a donkey would be that enjoyable but Pine Prairie senior Brandt Deville would tell you otherwise. “The funniest part was when we would get the ball and start heading toward the goal the man in charge of the game would tap the donkeys and make them buck us off,” Deville said. “It is was hilarious.”
Overall, the game brought the community together and helped raise over $2,000 for Pine Prairie’s last blast seniors, which left Seth Gautreaux, who is a junior at Pine Prairie High, looking forward to when his class gets to do it.
“It’s so funny to watch the people you know try to ride a donkey,” Gautreaux laughed.
Does that mean that Gautreaux will be taking part in this peculiar style of basketball? “I might just watch when my class does it though because after seeing those donkeys throw the people off I don’t know if I’ll want to get on one,” Gautreaux said.