The third annual Salt River Shootout Basketball Tournament will take place in Afton on March 20 and 21.

Founder Logan Hedges says 35 teams have already committed to participating in the event. This will be for grades 5-8 and this year they will also have a tournament for girls.

Hedges says his kids is the reason he got into this. He has done travel basketball teams with his sons and they participated in a lot of tournaments and saw a couple things they would like to do differently. So he started his own tournament.

“Bring some people into the community and raise a little money for the basketball program,” Hedges said.

He says one unique thing about the Salt River Shootout is the help is completely voluntary. So all the officials, scorekeepers, etc. are not paid.

“The community has been great about that,” Hedges said. “The (Star Valley) high school boys basketball team always jump in and help.”

He says the money raised goes straight into the program. Hedges hopes to raise $10,000. This will go directly into funding some of the tournaments for the team.

One nice thing for the families is it won’t cost any money to come watch the tournament as Hedges says they only charge for the team’s entry fees.

“I’ve never liked admission fees,” Hedges said. “We go and play in Idaho quite a bit and everybody’s got these high admission fees. When you bring a big family and stuff there, that gets pretty expensive for people.”

He says he guarantees three games for the $175 entry fee, but he hopes to get as many teams as possible at least four games. He says they have six courts going on at the same time. This will include several locations in Afton.

“Ultimately… it all comes down to it’s about these kids,” Hedges said. “I got started in this because my kids really love basketball and wanted to play.”

He says one really fun aspect is seeing those who his children compete against in all of their travels come to play at this tournament. He says it is fun to watch how everyone improves year over year.

He is asking anyone that wants to come volunteer to contact him.