Local student wins Kenai Elks Lodge Hoop Shoot for 2nd year in a row

For the second year in a row, 10-year-old Laila Taylor will travel to Nampa, Idaho to compete in the semi-finals of the Elks National Hoop Shoot next month. Taylor, a student at Aurora Borealis Charter School, will compete against other athletes in her age group from throughout the northwest U.S. region, which includes Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

Taylor scored 15 baskets out of 25 free throws during the local hoop shoot hosted by the Kenai Elks Lodge in December, beating the three others in her age group. If she wins the semi-final competition next month, she’ll continue to the national finals in Chicago in April.

Amber Rouswell, Taylor’s mother, led sports programs for the local Boys and Girls Clubs of the Kenai Peninsula until recently. Rouswell and her husband both play basketball recreationally, and they figured it made sense for Taylor to start while she was young. Taylor hit the court when she was 3 years old, with her mom cheering her on as her coach.

“She’s like a 100 mile-per-hour kid,” Rouswell said. “That would be the best way I can describe her — just go, go, go.”

Taylor said she started dedicating more time to practicing her free throws about a week before the competition, typically shooting 50 at the end of each practice. She said when it came time to shoot during the Elks Lodge’s annual competition, the people watching didn’t make her nervous.

“I just pictured them as ghosts who weren’t saying anything and weren’t there,” Taylor said cheerfully.

Dan Aaronson, who organizes the local hoops shoot, has been the Kenai Elks Lodge manager for 32 years. He estimated that between 600-700 Alaskans participate in the hoops shoot each year.

Aaronson said the hoops shoot began in Oregon in the 1950s, but girls weren’t allowed to participate until the late 1970s. The competition moved from local stages to a national one about 30 years ago, and at the time, the Kenai Elks Lodge was searching for more youth activities to support.

“Our main things as Elks are veterans, kids and community,” Aarsonson said. “All the money that we get from our grants and from the Alaska State Health Association — and also from the Elks National Foundation — that money gets put back into the community for different things, and kids are always part of that.”

The Kenai Elks Lodge will pay for Taylor and Rouswell’s trip to Idaho in its entirety. The two plan to visit a Top Golf and an escape room after the competition. Last year, they played mini golf, drove go-karts and went to an arcade.

Last year at the semi-finals, Taylor scored 12 baskets out of 25, placing third in her age group. She said she’s looking forward to the competition and plans to continue practicing her free throws at the end of every practice until she and her mom board the plane for Nampa.

“I just think it’s so cool that she’s so young and gets to represent the state of Alaska,” Rouswell said. “It’s been a really cool opportunity for her to see that if you work hard for something, it pays off.”