07/04/2026
PUBLIC INQUIRY: Youth Basketball Community
Rain Basketball USA & Game Time Events USA (GTE USA)
I. Financial Access Claims, GTE USA Event Practices, and Community Response
Rain Basketball USA publicly presents itself as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on access, opportunity, donor support, and financial assistance for youth athletes.
On its website, Rain Basketball states that it “operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit” because it believes every child deserves the chance to develop their potential.
It also states that it uses basketball as a vehicle to change lives by ensuring that financial barriers do not keep deserving kids from thriving.
Rain Basketball further states that, each year, through donor support and community partnerships, it invests over $150,000 in scholarships supporting 150+ families, and that 95% of every dollar raised goes directly to those young athletes.
Those public statements matter.
When a youth basketball organization uses nonprofit status, donor support, scholarship language, and access-based messaging to build public trust, families, athletes, donors, and the broader community have a legitimate interest in understanding how those claims operate in real life.
This inquiry is about clarity, documentation, and lived experience.
It asks whether the public can clearly understand how financial support is awarded, how fees are handled, how event-related and venue-related arrangements work, and how access is actually experienced by families inside the program.
II. WHY THIS INQUIRY MATTERS
This is not the first time our work has examined public charitable claims in Colorado youth basketball.
Our prior public records work involving Gold Crown Foundation reviewed scholarship-related language, IRS filings, public statements, and apparent gaps between public-facing claims and available records.
In that prior reporting, we documented that Gold Crown Foundation’s website language later changed from “almost $500,000 per year in scholarship opportunities” to new language referencing “nearly $900,000 each year in subsidized program fees.”
-> That history shows why careful public inquiry, documented questions, and community accountability matter.
Public claims should be able to withstand public review, especially when those claims involve children, families, donors, nonprofit trust, financial access, and youth sports participation.
This inquiry reflects good-faith public interest commentary grounded in public statements, firsthand reporting, and documentation.
At this stage, we are asking questions, seeking records, and inviting direct experiences so the public can better understand how these claims are applied and experienced.
III. WE ARE ASKING THE COMMUNITY
Have you or your athlete received financial support, scholarship assistance, fee relief, or any other cost-related support through Rain Basketball?
If so, and if you are willing, we invite you to share your experience with us publicly or privately by direct message.
We are looking for firsthand accounts that help the community understand how Rain Basketball’s public scholarship and access claims are carried out in practice.
-> That may include:
• whether financial support was offered
• how that support was explained
• whether support was documented in writing
• whether support reduced club dues, travel costs, tournament costs, gear costs, or other expenses
• whether families were told how scholarship decisions were made
• whether donor-supported assistance was clearly separated from other fee arrangements
IV. ADDITIONAL REPORTS WE ARE REVIEWING
We have received information alleging that Rain Basketball athletes may have been assigned or encouraged to perform work-related roles at GTE USA events, including admissions, scorekeeping, setup, cleanup, or other event duties, with payments, credits, or other compensation allegedly applied toward club dues, travel costs, or related fees.
We have also received reports alleging that Rain Basketball families, athletes, staff members, volunteers, affiliates, or other connected participants may have been allowed to enter GTE USA events without paying spectator admission fees, or may have been treated differently from other attendees regarding event entry costs, including team registration fees.
In addition, we have received tips alleging that Rain Basketball may have used, or may be using, its nonprofit status to seek private venues or facilities at nonprofit rates or reduced-cost terms in connection with events associated with Game Time Events USA, also known as GTE USA.
At this stage, we are not presenting any of these reports as conclusions.
We are seeking firsthand information from people who directly experienced, witnessed, documented, communicated about, or were instructed regarding any of these alleged arrangements.
V. IF YOU HAVE DIRECT EXPERIENCE, WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
Please contact us if you have firsthand experience with any of the following:
• receiving scholarship assistance, fee relief, or financial support through Rain Basketball
• being told that event work, admissions work, scorekeeping, cleanup, setup, or other tasks would be credited toward dues, fees, travel costs, or club costs
• being allowed to enter GTE USA events without paying spectator admission fees as a Rain Basketball family member, athlete, staff member, volunteer, affiliate, or connected participant
• receiving written or verbal explanations about scholarships, fee credits, donor-supported assistance, event work, spectator fee exceptions, venue arrangements, or nonprofit-rate facility access
VI. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
We are asking for firsthand information, not rumors.
Helpful information may include:
• personal experiences
• written messages
• emails
• payment records
• invoices
• screenshots
• registration records
• work instructions
• fee explanations
• scholarship communications
• event entry details
• venue agreements
• facility rental records
• nonprofit-rate communications
• documentation showing how financial support, credits, work assignments, or spectator fee exceptions were explained
• documentation showing how Rain Basketball’s nonprofit status was represented in connection with private venues, facilities, or GTE USA-related events
***Please do not publicly post private information about minors***
If you have documentation and want to share it, please send it privately.
VII. CONFIDENTIALITY AND ANONYMITY
If you contact us and request anonymity, we will not publish your name, your athlete’s name, your family details, or identifying information without your permission.
We understand why families may hesitate to speak publicly.
Youth sports can carry real pressure. Some of us have experienced this firsthand.
Families may fear retaliation, reduced playing time, social consequences, exclusion, or being labeled difficult.
-> That is why protected, confidential community reporting matters.
VIII. PURPOSE OF THIS INQUIRY
This inquiry is not about attacking families.
It is not about criticizing athletes.
It is not about shaming anyone who received help.
If Rain Basketball has provided meaningful financial support to families, that should be clearly understood.
If athletes worked events and payments or credits were applied toward dues or fees, that should be clearly understood.
If certain families, athletes, staff members, volunteers, affiliates, or connected participants were allowed to enter GTE USA events without paying spectator admission fees, that should be clearly understood.
If Rain Basketball’s nonprofit status was used to secure reduced-cost venue access connected to GTE USA events or other private event arrangements, that should be clearly understood.
The goal is to document real experiences and better understand how nonprofit access claims, scholarship support, club fees, event work, spectator fee practices, venue arrangements, and nonprofit-rate facility access are handled.
IX. WHY COMING FORWARD MATTERS
Coming forward matters because transparency protects families, informs donors, and helps the public understand whether charitable claims match lived experience.
It creates a clearer record.
It separates rumor from documentation.
It helps identify whether families were genuinely supported, whether athletes were placed into work-related arrangements, and whether fees were applied consistently.
It also helps clarify whether nonprofit status was used in connection with venue or event arrangements, and whether nonprofit trust is being handled with the seriousness it deserves.
When public claims involve access, support, youth athletes, donor money, family costs, event arrangements, and venue access, documentation brings clarity.
Firsthand information helps the community see the fuller picture.
X. HOW THIS INFORMATION WILL BE USED
All firsthand accounts, documentation, and verified findings gathered through this inquiry will be reviewed carefully and in good faith.
Claims that cannot be verified will be treated accordingly.
Where records, messages, or firsthand experiences support broader patterns, those findings may help inform the public record.
We also welcome direct responses, clarification, or documentation from Rain Basketball, GTE USA, or anyone with relevant firsthand knowledge.
This inquiry is part of a larger effort to examine how public claims, nonprofit language, event practices, venue arrangements, and family experiences align, or fail to align, in California and Colorado youth basketball and beyond.
Any substantiated findings from this inquiry may be incorporated into the finale of Why So Pressed? Part 2.
Until then, this remains an open public inquiry.
If you have direct experience, documentation, or information relevant to these questions, now is the time to come forward.
Respond in Comment section, DM, or email.
[email protected]
