It’s the first weekend of the new year. Here are some ideas of things to do in Hoover this weekend:
If you like volleyball, Hype Nation is hosting the Alabama Icebreaker volleyball tournament at the Finley Center at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 4-5.
Ninety-eight youth volleyball teams for girls ages 10-18 are scheduled to compete, including teams from: Hoover; Pelham; Auburn; Birmingham; Tuscaloosa; Montgomery; Alexandria; Odenville; Prattville; Fayette; New Orleans; Metarie, Louisiana; Collierville, Tennessee; Scottdale, Georgia; Ringgold, Georgia; Tupelo, Mississippi; Columbus, Mississippi and Meridian, Mississippi.
On Sunday afternoon, there is a community awareness event about self-harm and mental health called “Breaking the Silence” in the Ross Bridge community. The panel discussion, put together by Hoover High School student Bailey Cox, is designed to raise awareness about critical mental health issues affecting young people today.
Bailey is an officer in the Student Government Association at Hoover High, part of the Distributive Education Clubs of America club at the school and part of the Ignite Hoover Youth Leadership group. The panel discussion will be from noon to 2 p.m. at the Ross Bridge Hampton Hall Clubhouse.
If you like keeping up with beauty pageants and scholarship competitions, get a group together to watch Miss Hoover 2024 Abbie Stockard and Miss Hoover’s Teen 2024 Ali Mims compete in the Miss America and Miss America’s Teen competitions on Saturday and Sunday in Orlando. Stockard already has won a leadership award, and Mims was an evening gown preliminary winner.
The finals for Miss America’s Teen are Saturday at 6 p.m. central time, and the finals for Miss America are Sunday at 6 p.m. central time. The competitions are not on TV this year, but you can stream them for free at pageantvision.com.
WEEK IN REVIEW
If you think you may have missed out on some of the news this week, here’s a recap of some of our stories from Dec. 27-Jan. 2:
We named our Hoover Newsmaker of the Year for 2024, which — to explain — is the person who generated the most conversation in the community in 2024.
We picked the top 10 most impactful news stories of 2024 for Hoover and the top 10 most-read stories on the Hoover Sun website (according to online analytics).
We also wrapped up a series on the top 10 Hoover sports stories of 2024, as selected by Sports Editor Kyle Parmley.
