(December 27, 2013)- “There’s Basketball back at the Oman [Arena],” Lisa Peoples, Executive Director of Area Relief Ministries, said Friday night.
She was referring to the inaugural fundraiser Hub Classic Basketball Tournament presented by Area Relief Ministries. Area Relief Ministries helps low-income families and individuals in multiple ways like the “Room in the Inn” program and the HUB Club after-school program.
“We wanted to do something different besides a 5K, or a golf tournament, or a dinner,” Peoples explained. She continued, “So, a lot of the basketball teams play in a tournament somewhere, so we wanted to give our local teams and our regional teams an opportunity to kind of stay close to home as well as raise some money.”
Peoples received feedback from coaches. She says that, “they appreciate being able to be close to home… and the parents appreciate it also.”
Some of those local teams include Northside High School, JCM, Trinity Christian Academy, Madison Academic Magnet High School. From the region, Ripley, Milan, and Chester County participated. There are also teams from Memphis, Nashville, and even Alabama.
People said about the event that, “It’s a great, positive, family atmosphere. It’s something positive for young people and the whole family can come out and do. It’s not just sitting around eating or shopping or doing something that may be a little negative for our young people. So, It’s just a positive thing to come and support their classmates that are playing on their team.”
Area Relief Ministries Board of Directors member Stephen Moten came up with the idea for the tournament. He was, according to Peoples, active in Basketball in high school and knew a lot of the coaches.
Peoples hopes that the tournament, that took 6 months to prepare for, continues on. The tournament continues tot Saturday and concludes with the Championship on Monday night.
In addition to the games being played, there was also a Slam Dunk contest. To see photos from the contest, CLICK HERE.
