CENTERVILLE, S.D. (KELO) — In sports, competition breeds champions, but it also teaches young athletes humility and sportsmanship.

They’ve been on display all week long in the small town of Centerville, a community that knows sometimes there are bigger things in life than the game itself.

When the sun came up this morning in Centerville, it shined a lot on something pretty amazing.

Students filed into the gymnasium one by one….

“We are going to go right over here guys, okay”

not to watch any game, but rather to write a letter; a heartfelt letter to a young athlete from a neighboring town eight miles away.

“We played against each other a lot and we talk to each other, we are just kind of there for each other,” senior Logan Bobzin said.

Kobee Sherman, a junior for Viborg-Hurley recently received some heartbreaking news. He has cancer in one of his legs.

“Obviously it’s a terrible thing that he is going through, so we just want to help out anyway we can,” junior Brennan Tople said.

What they’ve been doing all week is called ‘Caps for Kobee.’

“Kids were asked to bring $20 for the week or $5 for the day to wear a hat in school,” assistant basketball coach Kory Muller said.

As you can see, a lot of the students are participating in the fundraiser.

Brennan Tople used to live in Viborg and played sports with Kobee.

“He’s a really good kid, he’s a leader he loves to participate in stuff and everything he loves everybody around him and cares for people we just want to show that we can help him out,” Tople said.

“In these situations you wonder what can you do, you’re hands feel tied sometimes, this is just something that we know we can offer our help to the family and support them whether it’s a meal out or gas money or something with medical bills we are just glad we can do something,” Muller said.

This town has a history of helping others holding other fundraisers in the past and now after learning of Kobee’s cancer, other schools have reached out to Centerville because they want to help Kobee too.

“I can’t guess how many schools, but I know multiple schools are using the same format to generate and reach out to the Sherman family, it’ll be interesting to see how many schools and how much was raised,” Muller said.

Oh and about that letter, here it is….the letter K for Kobee, which proves when everyone comes together

“I’m amazed every day, they rise to challenges,” Muller said.

….you can do big things, even in a small town.

“You were able to raise 4,740 caps off to you,”

“It shows the respect we have for each other, we are not just rivals on the court, we are supporters at the heart,” Muller said.

Kobee is currently undergoing chemotherapy.

There is a gofundme page for Kobee and his family and several other fundraisers taking place.