SCARBOROUGH – Young free-throw shooters from Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont will display their impressive skills Saturday in the regional championship of the Elks’ “Hoop Shoot” National Free Throw Contest. The competition starts at 9 a.m. at Scarborough High School. Each boy or girl already has won a local, district and state championship. With free-throw percentages that would make many in the NBA envious, these talented youngsters have already proven themselves to be the standouts in a competition that started last fall with more than 3 million participants, ages 8 to 13. At stake is a chance to advance to the national finals, where only 72 participants will compete April 24-27 at the birthplace of basketball, Springfield, Mass.

Now in its 36th year, the Elks’ Hoop Shoot, sponsored by the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, has grown into the largest co-educational sports program in the country. The six regional winners from the competition will have a chance to stake their claim to one of six coveted spots on the Elks “Hoop Shoot” plaque in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

alongside the likes of past Elks “Hoop Shoot” champs and sports luminaries as NBA and NCAA great Chris Mullin, former North Carolina State star Jennifer Howard, and former Chicago White Sox third baseman Chris Snopek.