Organizers of the upcoming "Elite Battle of the Ballers" men's basketball tournament in Waimanalo, hope the event will get more youth involved in community sports and showcase the Waimanalo gym, located at the Waimanalo District Park, as a place to play.
The tournament, set for Nov. 22-23 at the gym, will feature teams from across the island vying for a $1,000 prize and chance to move on to a regional competition next spring.
Even more important though is the opportunity for Waimanalo youngsters to get involved in team sports, said organizers Frank Kepa and Kris Aveiro, whose mission is to bring together athletes with a passion for the game and draw attention to the benefits of having a first-class gymnasium in the area.
As fitness and health experts, Kepa and Aveiro want to give back to the youth in the community and encourage positive sportsmanship by getting the kids active. Kepa and Aveiro never had a nice gym to call their own growing up and often played on broken down courts. The Waimanalo gym has been built since they grew up.
"When I was a kid, I never had a place to go like the Waimanalo gym. It's fortunate we have a facility like this, but it's a shame that it's hardly getting used," Kepa said. "It's great to see members of the community come together for the same passion of basketball; that's why we started organizing these tournaments."
The first tournament will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 22-23 and will offer food from Blazing Steaks and various refreshments from concession vendors. The Elite tournament organization encourages anyone who would like to watch and join the fun to be at the Waimanalo gym during those days.
The winning team will receive $1000 cash and automatically be entered into the first annual "Elite Battle of the Ballers" divisional tournament (sans entry fee). The divisional tournaments will be held on four consecutive weekends, starting May 16, 2009.
Kepa and Aveiro are looking forward into drawing support from the community and getting lots of people to attend these preliminary games. They hope the Waimanalo tournament will become an annual event.
"Hawaii has a lot of good basketball players, so I'm trying to make this tournament big and an annual event" said Aveiro, a co-founder of the Elite tournament.
"There's going to be a lot of talented youthful competition," Kepa said as he shot and made a basket. "We're really excited about the teams entering in this tournament. We have guys from town area, Salt Lake, Kailua and Waimanalo so far," he said.
"A lot of kids look up to me in the community. I try to give them positive advice and push them to stay active and healthy. I want to be a positive role model to these kids; get them in the gym and to stay out of trouble," Kepa said.
Although the "Elite Battle of the Ballers" tournaments are currently for male adults 18 and up, Kepa and Aveiro hope to expand the Elite tournament organization and add women's and children's divisional teams to the tournaments.
The teams have already been chosen to play for the Windward division at the Waimanalo gym but if you are interested in playing in the divisional tournaments starting in May, the Leeward division at the Salt Lake gym, and Central division at the Manoa gym are still qualifying for teams to play in the future games to come. The top three teams from each division will play in the divisional tournament in May for a chance to win a cash prize and a free hotel stay. If interested in learning more about the "Elite Battle of the Ballers" tournament give them a call, or just come watch the first tournament games.
For more information...
Contact the Elite tournament coordinators:
Frank Kepa (808) 589-7780
Kris Aveiro (808) 723-5115
