NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Snow has caused postponements and cancellations all across Hampton Roads, but it was not enough to get in the way of Old Dominion's women's basketball game with North Texas.
Stephen Shepheard and Sherry Tennant are both Virginia Beach natives, so snow is not their particular cup of team. However, we found them at Chartway Arena on Saturday afternoon.
"It's been awhile since we've seen this much," Shepheard noted. "Whenever I see a quarter-inch of snow, I'm like ahhhh, but the roads weren't too bad coming out."
"I hate snow," laughed Tennant. "I don't mind not seeing it."
Both of them were working the concession stand on Saturday afternoon to help their program, Virginia Rush Soccer. Old Dominion makes donations to local organizations in exchange for volunteers during games, so Stephen and Sherry were happy to jump on board. A look at that forecast, however, left them skeptical the game would occur earlier in the week.
"Just because I wasn't sure of the road conditions," said Tennant. "But other than that, no big deal."
"When I saw the forecast, it was a question of are they going to have the game or not," Shepheard added. "The fact that they're going to put it on, I figured they needed us so we would show up."
The two Virginia Rush volunteers woke up this morning ready to get out the door and get to the arena, after a little pep talk with themselves.
"When I saw the snow and my son made a fire in the fireplace for me and breakfast was on, I was like 'do I have to leave for this?," Stephen laughed. "At the end of the day, we can consistently try to help out where we can."
"They said they needed volunteers, so I said 'hey, why not?,'" Sherry said. "I went outside, saw all the snow and just started shoveling all the snow off my car."
Some fans had the same attitude. Monarch faithful who made the trip to Chartway Arena today were given free admission, so a number of fans were visible in the seats.
"It was 33 degrees," said ODU fan Faith Longsworth. "Try it and see what we've got and it was fine coming here, no problem at all."
Some winter weather? Sure. But as it was not enough to take the game off the schedule, it also will take more to get keep some of the fans away.
"We've had season tickets since 1984," Longsworth pointed out. "We want to support them in person."
Old Dominion's next home game is scheduled for Wednesday against Charlotte. Tip-off is set for 6:30 PM.
