Detroit Country Day Student-Athlete Gabe Nazelli Repeats as Free Throw Champion

Dec. 2, 2012 - PRLog -- Outscoring all contestants in all six categories with a score of 21-made free throws out of 25 attempts, Gabe Nazelli duplicated this same feat as last year’s winner in the 8 and 9 Year-old Boys group.

Livonia, MI – Gabe, who turned 10 this past July now competes in the Boys 10 and 11-year age group for this year’s Elks Hoop Shoot Contest.  This year’s goal for Gabe is to make it to the National Finals in Springfield, Massachusetts.  Winners will be inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame.

The 41st annual National Elks Hoop Shoot competition was held on Saturday, December 1st at the Livonia Community Recreation Center. The National Elks Hoop Shoot Contest is a free-throw shooting competition open to all boys and girls, ages 8 through 13, arranged in two divisions, one for boys and one for girls. State winners progress to the three-state Regional competition in March in Rochester, MI. The National Finals will be held in Massachusetts.

The Elks is a charitable organization. The hoop shoot is only one of many they host in an effort to promote community outreach. There were 52 registered participants.

Gabe Nazelli is a Fourth-grader at the suburban elementary school Country Day in Birmingham, Michigan.  As an outstanding student, Gabe takes drum lessons and plays on the Yellow Jackets’ baseball team as well as the basketball team.  His parents, Christopher and Andrea, are both educators at Wayne State University and the Detroit Country Day Middle School respectively.