Help us bring the Rogue Valley Royals home

On Sunday morning, our players loaded up the bus to head back to Medford from Vernal, Utah, as they were eliminated from the playoffs the night before. Around 6pm on Sunday evening our team bus broke down in the middle of nowhere Nevada. Stranded on the side of the road, our drivers and coaching staff attempted to assess what was going on with the bus. As it started to get dark, they realized it was not safe for our players to stay on the side of the freeway. So, Coach Bobby Ruddle walked with the boys to a rest stop less than a half mile up the road.

The boys were halfway in between Elko and Winnemucca, NV and about 20 miles from the nearest "town". Thankfully after a couple of hours huddled up in the rest stop bathroom, and right as it began to really snow, a Nevada State Trooper helped connect them with a local gold mining company who had vans that graciously transported our boys 45 minutes back to Elko so we could get them into a hotel.

Today, our staff worked to get the bus seen by a mechanic, with MANY hurdles along the way. The news was not positive and we had to come to grips with the fact that our team bus is likely not coming home with us. We were forced to pivot our game plan and just find a solution to get our boys home.

This has unfortunately incurred a lot of unexpected expenses, as well as the huge financial and logistical issues with the loss of our bus. Thankfully and ironically, this is our last road trip of the season and we have time to problem solve and figure out the bus issue before next season, but in the meantime, our main priority is getting our boys home and we are looking to our community to help alleviate the financial stress that is very much paired with the overall stress of this entire situation. If you are able to donate, we would greatly appreciate it, if you are not we would love it if you could share our story in the hopes others may be able to help us bring our boys home safely and effectively and minimize the financial burden while doing so.

Any money we raise beyond what is needed to bring the boys home, will go directly into securing a new bus for next season. Thank you, we appreciate the support and concern. It means more than you all know.