When Clements basketball player Emrey McGill first heard about a donkey basketball game fundraiser the school was hosting, the first thing she did was look up the event on YouTube. But videos didn’t do the event justice, as she found out in person Thursday night.

“This is probably the craziest thing I’ve ever done,” McGill said. “I wasn’t expecting it to be like this. I tried to watch videos to get an idea of what it was, but it still wasn’t anything like I was expecting.”

McGill, and everyone else who participated in the event at the Clements High gym Thursday night, found out you can sit on a donkey, but the donkey isn’t going anywhere unless it wants to.

“I thought it was just going to be like riding a horse, where you’re able to move them, but the donkeys don’t move,” Abby Craig said. “It was very interesting.”

A huge crowd that rivaled the size of Limestone County basketball tournament crowd showed up to watch the unique event, which was a fundraiser for the Clements softball program. What they saw was a bunch of stubborn donkeys with students, faculty and community members trying to control them.

There were six players on each team. Players could dismount the donkey to corral the basketball and pass it, as long as they had a hold of the donkey’s lead rope. However, to score a basket, the shooter had to be sitting on the donkey.

That led to the strategy of players trying to pull their donkey under the basket and then sitting on it, hoping someone would pass them the ball.

Craig was pretty successful at it, scoring two baskets. But she gave all credit to the donkey.

“It was kind of the donkey’s strategy honestly,” Craig said. “Because he just wouldn’t move. Once he wanted to stop, he wasn’t going anywhere else.”

Clements softball coach Wendy Gordon said she was surprised and impressed by the large crowd that came to watch the event.

“I think the adults are having even more fun than the kids,” Gordon said. “We wanted to have a good fundraiser, but it was more about bringing the community together for some fun.”

Gordon said she participated in donkey basketball games when she was a student at Clements, but declined to ride again Thursday.

“I think I”ll leave that to our (Blue Springs) elementary principal and our high school assistant principal,” Gordon said with a laugh. “I believe I’ll stay off of them.”

While Clements students might not have known what to expect when they first heard about the donkey basketball game, they quickly learned it was a lot of fun, and a lot of work.

“It’s definitely a workout,” McGill said. “I didn’t think I would sweat this much. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Gordon said the donkey basketball game is something she will want to make a yearly event.

“Now the kids know what it’s about so they’re excited,” Gordon said. “They’re all fighting to try to get on one.”