BOCA RATON, Fla. — Boca Raton is on one of the biggest sports stages right now as Florida Atlantic University marches on to the Elite Eight.
For basketball players and fans in Boca Raton, this is not something they ever expected to see.
Jody Forstot founded the Boca Hoops youth basketball league in 1989. His office at his medical practice is decked out in basketball gear and memorabilia. Basketball is in his blood, and he's brought his league up to more than 1,000 participants and about 100 players with special needs.
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Boca Hoops is wrapping up its spring break basketball camp this week at Olympic Heights High School. The FAU Owls are the talk of the team.
Spanish River High School freshman Jack D'Emic is participating in the camp.
"I think it's a great run, and it's really impactful to the people here in Palm Beach County," D'Emic said. "I think it's just really great how they've been doing this and got so far."
Forstot calls FAU Coach Dusty May a classy and great leader and a role model for the kids and coaches who love the sport.
He said watching FAU in the tournament could help bring some young players back to basketball who may have given it up.
"This has rejuvenated the love for the game, which I've had all these years, so it's great to see," Forstot said. "It's good to see them play but now with them going this far and being successful, the teamwork- that's the beauty of it. If you are a basketball person, you just love to see how they play. They share the ball. There's no superstar. There's no egos, and it seems Dusty has the magic of keeping egos off the court and letting them play and play together, whether they continue to win (or not), they're winners."
