As the late afternoon sun beats down on the asphalt of the shopping center parking lot on the corner of Arizona Avenue and Chandler Heights Road a caravan of cars and trucks flood in all at once. The parking lot goes from nearly vacant to completely full within minutes as the coaches and players of the Hamilton Huskies football team make their way to their weekly event.

 

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has hosted the entire Hamilton football team every week since the beginning of the season for Thursday Nights Highlights. At the end of the hall tucked away in their own theater, the Huskies are fed spaghetti, meatsauce and garlic bread as they gather to watch a 30-minute highlight video of their previous game.

 

First-year head coach Dick Baniszewski came up with the idea for the morale boosting from his own high school football experiences.

 

“I remember when I was in high school, we would always get together at the coach’s house have ice cream and watch film,” said Baniszewski. “It was something very memorable so I wanted to create something that would be a camaraderie team event.”

 

To bring the event to fruition, Baniszewski went to the Hamilton Huskies Gridiron Club, the team’s booster club, to have them fund the event. The booster club with funds from fundraisers and community partner sponsorships sought out a videographer to produce the videos for the team.

 

The Hamilton Gridiron Booster Club partnered with Sam Roman to produce the weekly hype videos for the team to view at Alamo.

 

Opportunely, the father of freshman team player Gavin Goulette owned the shopping center that the movie theater was located.

 

His father, Trent Goulette, introuduced the Gridiron to Derek Dodd and Craig Paschich, the owners of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Chandler.

 

“Derek and Craig are from Katy, Texas and are big high school football fans so it was a great community partnership for us,” said Tara Lockart, president of the booster club.

 

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema offers a unique experience--the ability to dine inside the theater. The team feasts as it reclines in the spacious private theater. According to Dodd, the Alamo hosts many similar types of events.

 

“Since we’ve been doing it weekly it really only takes an hour or so to prep,” said Dodd. “We cook about 10 pounds of pasta, four to five gallons of meat sauce and a bunch of garlic bread. The team really loves the bread.”

 

Since hosting the event for the Hamilton team, Dodd has noticed an increase in business.

 

“We’ve definitely noticed a lot of Hamilton folks in who mention the event. It definitely has increased that awareness,” said Dodd.

 

The Huskies will gather this Thursday hoping this won’t be their last. They host Skyline in a first round playoff matchup Friday.

 

Baniszewski believes the Thursday Night Highlights event plays an important role in preparing his team for any upcoming game.

 

“It brings us together right before the game, let’s us laugh a little gives us a little inspiration to go play football on Fridays.”