Clearwater and Littlefield earn FCCLA national award for Hooping for Hope event

ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – January’s Hooping for Hope event and two local basketball standouts, have earned national recognition.

In January, Elmira’s Ellie Clearwater and Edison’s Payton Littlefield teamed up to put on Hooping for Hope night, in support of the Josh Palmer Fund . The day filled with charity basketball games between the Elmira and Edison girls programs raised over $12,000 for local cancer patients, through the Palmer Fund.

After playing in and hosting the event, the pair took their experiences to New York’s FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) Conference, and won a gold medal . As a result, Clearwater and Littlefield punched a ticket to the national conference in Seattle, Washington.

At the national level, Hooping for Hope inspired once again. The FCCLA awarded Littlefield and Clearwater gold medals, as national top 10 finalists. For the on-court opponents, turning their idea into a award winning event was a thrill.

“It was a really good experience, said Clearwater. When we found out we were top ten, we were shocked. That was our original goal, let’s get top ten. On top of that, just seeing all of the support that we got throughout the whole thing was amazing. It was great to see all of our hard work come together and be recognized for it.”

Littlefield echoed Clearwater, explaining that it was gratifying to celebrate their teachers, advisors, and friends from the GST BOCES program. The Edison grad also shared her experience, seeing a different part of the country.

“When we weren’t at FCCLA, we got go explore Seattle, said Littlefield. We got to look at the city, we went to a (Seattle) Mariners game, we went to the Pike Place Fish Market, and we did a lot of the tourist stuff. Usually, I’m not into the touristy stuff, but having done it now, it was an experience that I would do again every time.”

With the success of their event, Littlefield and Clearwater hope that they’ve inspired the community to follow in their footsteps.

“If you think that you can do something to help the community, just go for it, said Clearwater. This was just an idea one day, that Payton and I had. To look back now and see how much we accomplished from it, hopefully sends the message that you can do something like this too, if you try to.”

Littlefield shared the same message to the community, emphasizing that it is important to take advantage of the opportunity to do something good.

“Take your opportunities and make them something, said Littlefield. We had the opportunity to do this and we did our best to make something out of it. Hooping for Home came, then we got to go to states, then Seattle. It was a really crazy experience, but I think if we didn’t hop on to the opportunity, then we wouldn’t have had all of the success that we did.”

Littlefield and Clearwater have left a major impact on and off the court, as high school student athletes. The pair are each set to continue their basketball careers at the college level. Clearwater has signed to play at SUNY Geneseo , while Littlefield will take the court at Nazareth College. Both told 18 Sports that they are excited to play against each other again and return home to take on Elmira College.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WETM - MyTwinTiers.com.