Last year’s summer basketball tournament, which attracted many enthusiasts and created much excitement mostly among the Filipino members of the community is not taking place this year due to lack of a gym to host the event.
Organizer Jerry Nepomuceno said they didn’t want to take the risk of serious injury to players again after what happened during last year’s tournament, with some players taking on injuries on the open-air court.
“We wanted to organize the tournament at an indoor facility this summer, but could not find a gym to play at,” Nepomuceno explained.
He said they had approached all the schools in the community, prepared to pay for whatever costs might be incurred, but that they were turned down.
He said they didn’t think the Centennial Centre gym could be a good venue because of the number of fans their games attract and the games would disturb the hospital environment. As a result, they didn’t even think about it as a realistic choice.
According to Nepomuceno, interest remains quite high in the event with many residents willing to join in and be part of the tournament. He said they had spoken to the Mayor Rick Bonnett on the matter and that they were hoping a solution could be found for the tournament to take place next year. He mentioned the possibility that once the Air Cadets squadron moves to their new location, the former Ponoka Elementary School building, their gym the could be a good venue to organize next summer’s tournament.