George Washington University Athletics
GW Athletics Comes Together to Host Paradise Jam
11/20/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Eric Detweiler, GW Athletics Communications
The plan for GW women's basketball to celebrate Thanksgiving with a Caribbean getaway came together last fall.
The Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands offered a great opportunity for the Colonials to play three Power Five opponents over as many days on a neutral court. Not to mention the fun-in-the-sun bonding time that head coach Jennifer Rizzotti knew would be valuable for a group chasing a fourth straight postseason berth.
Hurricanes Irma and Maria changed everything when they ripped through the area roughly 10 days apart mid-September. Understandably, basketball became a secondary concern as locals began to pick up the pieces following the powerful storms.
With the University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center on St. Thomas serving as a FEMA distribution center and possible fill-in venues on surrounding islands facing similar issues, the tournament needed a new home.
That's how the spotlight ended up on the Charles E. Smith Center this week.
GW stepped in to host Syracuse, Vanderbilt and Wisconsin on short notice, pulling together the details to make it happen in less than two months. All proceeds from the six games over three days, starting Thursday, will go toward hurricane relief in the USVI.
"We're just thrilled to be able to do this," GW senior associate athletics director Tanya Vogel said. "Obviously, the devastation that was experienced in the U.S. Virgin Islands from both hurricanes this past summer was awful.
"We had our hearts and minds set on making this trip and providing this experience to our student-athletes, but as soon as we realized that the island wasn't going to be able to support the tournament, we started to look at a way to make it really special both for our student-athletes and the visiting teams coming in and also how could we raise awareness and funding for the U.S. Virgin Islands and those people that have been impacted."
Basketball Travelers put on its first collegiate tournament on St. Thomas in 2000. It's become a tradition on the island with packed crowds and a reliable cast of locals that have pitched in year-after-year to keep things running smoothly.
This year, the Seattle-based organization was set to host three different events -- two for women and one for men -- over nine days.
Paradise Jam director Jenn Ashby exhausted every option trying to find a way to keep the tournament in the USVI.
Hurricane Irma blew out some windows at the 4,000-seat UVI Sports and Fitness Center, which resulted in water damage to the court. There were plans in the works to get the court replaced and to bring in a cruise ship to offer lodging and meals to the participants with many hotels still shuttered. Those thoughts ended when FEMA claimed the building for its relief efforts.
The adjacent island of St. Croix was an option until Hurrican Maria came through. The second storm ripped the roof off the nicest facility on the island. Another venue was quickly converted into a shelter for those who'd lost homes.
On Sept. 22, the Paradise Jam officially announced it was looking for new hosts on the U.S. mainland.
"It was easily the hardest decision I've ever had to make," Ashby said.
The Paradise Jam accepted bids before awarding the tournament to Liberty, Eastern Florida State College and GW. The Smith Center announcement came Oct. 4, offering about seven weeks to get ready.
Ashby said GW's interest in raising money for hurricane relief in the USVI helped it stand out. The Colonials had to beat out one other bidder to host the Reef Division, she added.
"It's super overwhelming to know there's so many people down there in such great need," Ashby said. "I have a personal connection to these people, but to have people who don't have that personal connection willing to step up and try to help them is really meaningful to me."
Rizzotti didn't hesitate. Within minutes of the announcement that the Paradise Jam would seek outside hosts, the second-year coach and her staff started discussing what might need to happen for Smith Center to get in the mix.
For Rizzotti, it was a no-brainer. She'll still be able to get the tough competition and extra time together with her players that she wanted, while everybody gets to sleep in their own beds each night.
"As soon as Tanya (Vogel) and (Athletics Director) Patrick (Nero) agreed to support us putting a bid in, we wanted to jump at it." Rizzotti said. "We don't typically get a lot of big schools that want to play us on our home court. ... We knew this would be a great chance for us to showcase everything that GW's about."
Director of basketball operations Christina Richardson took the lead in planning from the team's perspective. That meant coordinating extensively with her counterparts at Syracuse, Vanderbilt and Wisconsin. She plotted out practice and shoot-around times for each club and made suggestions about where to stay and eat and what to do with their free time in the District.
Richardson used her experience helping to plan a Thanksgiving tournament during her time at Texas A&M as a guide. She said the hardest part has been trying to keep all the scheduling decisions as fair as possible to keep everybody feeling welcome.
In some ways, the other squads had more work to do as far as plotting travel accommodations on short notice, she added.
"They've honestly been great and flexible, and you kind of have to be in this situation," Richardson said. "It hasn't been a difficult process. Just because they've been so willing to adjust."
Ultimately, Rizzotti knows a majority of the extra work falls on the GW support staffers that have juggled their holiday plans to bring the Paradise Jam to Smith Center.
After 19 months in Foggy Bottom, the coach isn't surprised by that willingness to help her program, but she doesn't take it for granted.
"The people who are going to benefit the most are our players and our families," Rizzotti said. "To get a chance to host a tournament of this kind of magnitude on our home floor, it's just a rare opportunity. We're very appreciative to everybody that's helping make it happen."
Andre Julien was planning to spend his holiday break in Florida. Instead, the senior associate athletics director will be on campus each day.
Julien will open the Lerner Health and Wellness Center for teams preparing to play and pitch in however else he can. On Thanksgiving day, that means arriving early to deep fry a turkey for the staff.
It's a cause close to Julien's heart. He spent the first 10 years of his life on St. Croix, and he still has family there.
"Anything that can be done in terms of stimulating that economy -- anything, no matter what the size of it is -- it's going to have a true impact on the people there," Julien said. "So many people down there already live paycheck to paycheck, if not day-to-day. It's going to be a while before they can recover."
It's taken a team effort like that to get Smith Center ready to host.
Usually, Ashby flies a group of workers to the USVI to handle communications, hospitality, ticketing and transportation with the rest of the jobs going to locals.
With three separate host sites, that wasn't possible this time. There will be two representatives from Basketball Travelers on hand, but GW was responsible for arranging the rest of the staff.
That meant finding more than two dozen gameday workers to staff the scorer's table, take tickets, provide security and more. With most student workers home for break, it made the process slightly more challenging than normal. Eventually, all the slots were filled.
"There's a way to do everything," GW director of events, facilities and operations Andrew Lundt said. "We talk about it all the time: This is a `yes'-based industry. You don't get into college athletics to say `no.' You're going to get it done for the student-athletes."
Maria Iturralde's Creative Catering stepped up to handle concessions for the tournament and also provide a full Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday for teams and staff.
"We were looking forward to a little bit of time off at Thanksgiving, but hey, I love GW," said Iturralde, a 2015 graduate of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. "I went here. I'm GW athletics all the way. If there's something that I something I can do to help them, I'm going to do it."
From start to finish, that attitude has been necessary to put all the pieces in place. It's been a rush to design a new logo, order merchandise and organize a slew of other countless small details to make sure Smith Center is ready to put its best foot forward.
On Thursday, the Paradise Jam's Reef Division will tip off with Syracuse facing Wisconsin at 11 a.m. No doubt, it's a great opportunity for the Colonials, but all involved want to make sure the reason for the move is never far from mind.
"I think everybody on our staff realizes that it is a sacrifice (to work Thanksgiving), but it's nothing compared to what those families from the Virgin Islands have experienced," Vogel said. "Even though we're thousands of miles away, it's our way of reaching out and saying `Hey, we've got your back.'"
