September 5, 2007.
Mississauga, ON.
The 20th North American
Basketball Association (NABA) Intercity Basketball tournament
opened with a bang on Friday night at the Delta Meadowvale Resort
and Conference Center in Mississauga where thousands of Filipino
basketball players gathered to register and to witness NABA
Commissioner, Ron Damasco, officially opened the tournament in a
pompous opening ceremony. Ace Alvarez of Frontpage Philippines
handed the Best Uniform Award to the City of Durham while community
leader, Dr. Solon De Guzman, announced the winner of the Miss NABA
2007 title: Durham's muse, Paulina Anna Maria Chan. Police Constable
Philip Mendoza, of the Community Mobilization Unit of the Toronto
Police Department was the Guest Speaker of the night.
A total of 17
cities in the US and Canada fielded 84 teams in nine age divisions
that played a total of 150 games during the two day
basketball marathon. Toronto leads the pack winning four division
championships (Peewee, Bantam, Ladies and Open) and placing second
in the Juvenile and Girls divisions. Scarborough won the Tykes and
Junior Divisions while Vaughan captured the Seniors Division. Three
other Canadian cities played in the finals: the rookie city of Newmarket placed second in the Tykes Division while North York and
Durham placed second in the Bantam and Pewee divisions respectively.
Glendale Heights
and Staten Island of New York prevented a sweep by the Canadian
cities by winning the golds in the Juvenile and the Girls Division.
The city of Detroit placed second in three divisions: Ladies, Open
and Seniors; while Staten Island placed second in the Junior
division. Robby Penalosa, assistant coach of the New York Bantam
team that lost to Scarborough and North York in the preliminary
rounds, offered this analysis as to why the Canadian cities were a
dominant force in this year's tournament:
"In a country
(Canada) where Hockey is a dominant sport, basketball has become a
serious way of life for Filipino-Canadians and they are very well
trained. I realize now how the older Canadian teams fare so well
against New York and other American cities. The referees LET YOU
PLAY. The fouls called in Canada are much different from how they
are called here in the States and I think that's a very good
training for the younger ballers to play hard and play against tough
defense."
Toronto's Peewee
division (comprised mainly of CKaTT's under 13 years old players)
and Open division teams won their championship trophies the long and
grueling way. After getting the bye on the first round, they both
lost their first and only game on Saturday sending them to the
Loser's bracket where they played a record five consecutive games on
Sunday en route to their gold medals. Their final games however were
not even close: the Peewee division beat their MPAA tournament
arch-rival, Durham, 61-36. Toronto's Open division team had an
equally easy championship game beating the team from Detroit 67-33.
In contrast to the
backbreaking way in which Toronto's Peewee and Open division teams
earned their golds, it's star-studded Bantam team won the division
finals the easy way by winning all their four games spread equally
in two days. Toronto's Ladies team also avoided the exhausting
schedule of the Loser's bracket by winning all their three games
while Toronto's Purple team in the Girls Division played in one of
the most exciting finale of the tournament against eventual winner
and defending champion, Staten Island. The Girls' championship game
went into overtime and was not decided until the final whistle which
saw Staten Island winning by one point, 52-51.
In the closing and
awarding ceremony at the Mississauga's Huron Park Community Centre
on Sunday night, NABA's Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Paul Albano, Jr.,
announced that the city of Detroit will be hosting next year's NABA
tournament. The tournament will return to Canada in 2009 with the
city of Scarborough hosting.
This year's NABA
2007 tournament was managed and coordinated by volunteer individuals
from Dolce (led by NABA Deputy Commissioner for Canada, Frank Pendon
and Toronto City Director, Miste Cruz) and CKaTT Basketball with the
help of the Warriors and Brampton Rebels organizations. CKaTT
President, Ronald Baello, told his volunteers who work tirelessly
for weeks and months toward the Labour Day week-end:
"Having
witnessed the progress of the 2007 NABA tournament in stages: from
planning, preparation, execution and to its successful conclusion, I
can truly say that it was achieved with such a hefty price: the
tremendous manpower and leadership from all of you, our hard-working
volunteers. Without you, this event would not have been a success.
Thank you for being part of NABA 2007."
NABA Toronto's City
Director, Miste Cruz, has this special message to all NABA 2007
Committee members:
"Please accept my sincere gratitude to each and everyone of
you in achieving this wondrous tournament result. I would like to
share with you some of the personal messages sent to me by other
City Directors and participants. To sum it up, we set a very high
standard in hosting NABA. Special thank you to Ronald Baello and the
entire CKaTT group. Without you, this tournament would not have
achieved the pinnacle. To my brothers and sisters at Dolce East,
thank you for being dependable as always."
For more
information about the NABA 2007 tournament, go to their website at:
http://www.nabatoronto.net
