By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Last year, more than 2 million students across the nation began competing in hundreds of local Hoop Shoot  competitions in nearly every state. Several months later, an Alabaster student was standing among the final 25 competitors.

“I was definitely nervous. It wasn’t easy to calm my nerves, but I was able to figure it out,” Thompson Middle School student Abby Grace Walker said, recalling the Elks national Hoop Shoot competition, which was held in Valdosta, Ga. “It wasn’t easy, but I had a good time.”

Walker was of several Shelby County students who began their Hoop Shoot journey by competing in the Elks’ local-level competition at Riverchase Middle School in Pelham on Jan. 10.

Walker easily cruised through the local competition, winning first place in the 12-13-year-old girls’ category. She then moved on to the regional competition, where she won by a considerable margin by sinking 20 of 25 shots.

Then, it was on to the state competition, where she again won by a considerable margin by making 20 of 25 shots, earning her a spot on the Alabama team at the national competition.

“The national competition was very different from the other competitions,” Walker said. “They gave us a suit to wear for each team, so I got to wear the Alabama team suit.”

For being one of the final 25 competitors in the Elks’ Hoop Shoot contest, Walker earned plenty of praise from the Alabaster Board of Education during an April 11 meeting.

“We are so proud of you for representing our city and our system so well,” Alabaster School Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers told Walker.

Tom Davidson with the Cahaba Valley Elks Lodge, which sponsored Walker, said Alabaster had a strong showing at the local competition before Walker traveled all the way to the national level.

“She breezed through the local and district competitions, and she actually won the state,” Davidson said. “Two million children started this process last September, and she was in the top 25 in the nation.”