Shaquan Baker, 10, dribbles around a defending opponent during the GMH March Madness Basketball Tournament held Saturday at Kelly Park. Photo by Heather Wilburn.
6th ADA hosts combatives tourney
Heather Wilburn, Special to The Monitor
March Madness hit Kelly Park Saturday as 21 teams battled it out for top honors in a three-on-three basketball tournament sponsored by GMH Military Housing.
The second annual GMH March Madness Basketball Tournament started at 9 a.m., but some participants were at the park and ready to play early, said Frank Ortiz, outreach coordinator for GMH Military Housing.
“We had some kids out here as early as 7:30 a.m.,” he said. “They were excited and ready to go. Some of these kids are 9 years old, but they can shoot those three-pointers, I can tell you that.”
Ortiz said he was pleased by the event’s turnout.
“We had 21 teams sign up, and that’s impressive,” he said. “We’re up from last year, when we only had 12 or 14 teams. This year, we got the word out, and people came.”
The purpose of the basketball tournament, Ortiz said, is to give GMH residents a chance to get out and have a good time.
“We’re out here to have fun and enjoy the day, and celebrate March Madness, which is going full-swing right now; it’s on everybody’s mind,” he said. ““But the whole purpose is to come out and have fun – that’s the first rule, and you can see that’s happening,” he said.
“I’m having a good time,” agreed Tyler Branch, 11. “This is actually the first time I’ve ever done this, and I just came out here to have fun with my friends.”
Tommy Baker, 12, participated in the tournament for the first time this year. He took part because he enjoys the sport.
“I love basketball, and I just wanted to play,” he said.
Keegan Robinson, 12, took part in the event last year and decided to come out again.
“Like (Tommy) said, I really like basketball. I just wanted to come out here and have fun.”
Organizers set up the tournament in a half-court, double-elimination format with three age brackets: 9 to 12 years old, 13 to 15 years old, and 16 years old and up, with both male and female divisions.
“We try to accommodate everybody and give everyone a fair chance to win something,” Ortiz said, noting that this year’s tournament even saw “a couple of co-ed teams show up.”
First-place teams received trophies, while second- and third-place teams received silver and bronze medals, respectively.
“We also gave free T-shirts to all the participants and spectators,” Ortiz said.