Penn State basketball will be hosting a pool party at the McCoy Natatorium Friday to raise fan support for the upcoming season.
The event is open to the public. Players from both the Lady Lions and men's basketball teams will be at the event from 1 to 4 p.m.
"There's still a lot of buzz from the NIT championship among students," Penn State Basketball Marketing and Promotions Coordinator Matt Cheechio said. "We wanted to capitalize on that and get people starting to think about basketball in July."
Players from both teams have been at Penn State all summer working out and scrimmaging and the party will give fans a chance to interact with them. The players will be participating in games throughout the day, including a water balloon toss with fans.
Though the games and food will be free, it will cost the standard $5 fee to enter the pool. Once inside, fans will be eligible to win prizes ranging from T-shirts to season tickets.
"We have a bunch of contests going on where players will be paired up with students," Cheechio said. "We're going to have hot dogs given out for free, we talked about having (center) Andrew Ott grilling them up."
Students who attend the party will be able to see Penn State players who played overseas this summer. Point guard Talor Battle led the United States in scoring during the World University Games and Lady Lions guard/forward Julia Trogele played for Germany's under-20 team, and both are expected to be in attendance.
Students will be able to join Penn State basketball's Facebook group, which sends updates on the teams and players through the season and beyond.
Cheechio said Facebook has been useful this offseason in following last year's seniors as they sign overseas.
"Facebook's been helpful for this event, just spreading word of mouth," Cheechio said. "We're relying heavily on Facebook and building it up this offseason, we've seen it as a huge tool to promote the event."
In the event of a rainout, the party will be pushed back to Sunday, July 26 at the same time. Though this is the first year for the party, the players are excited and hope to make it a summer tradition.
"The guys had extended to us before that they wanted to do something in the summer," Cheechio said. "So we came together and just thought the pool party was natural."
