TNBA Hosts Successful Junior Tournament !!!

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TNBA Hosts Successful Junior Tournament!!

TNBA’s first Junior Tournament was held at ‘Atele Indoor Stadium on Saturday 11th June and what a day it was!!!

Newly appointed NBDO Isi Niualiku thanked the parents and students for showing their support of the game of basketball over the past few months and Lemeki Lolohea (Pastor at Tonga Royal Church) started off the games with an opening prayer.

Players in Class 5 and 6 from Nuku’alofa, ‘Atele and Veitongo GPS were put into 4 even teams of 8 players each with TNBA members NBDO Isi Niualiku, President Joshua Rubin and AYAD Bec Campbell running the day sharing the duties of setting up the draw, forming teams, umpiring,  making the substitutions and general coaching points. 

It was a day of fun-filled action with great talent and sportsmanship shown by all. With each team having played 3 round games, the ladder ended with a tie for second place leading to an elimination style shootout between the two teams. In a close battle, Team 3 ended up successful winners of the shootout, meeting Team 4 in the Grand Final.

Team 4 led the way for most of the first half of the grand final, and seemed it would remain this way for the game, but team 3 battled back early in the second where the game then went basket for basket.  As though a shootout for a spot in the final wasn’t enough excitement for one day, the final ended up going into a 3 minute overtime period. Scores were hard to come by in OT with such rush and excitement by all players but eventually Team 4 came out as winners by 2 points.

Tournament Organiser and NBDO Isi distributed Gold, Silver and Bronze medallions to all players of the respective teams with the winning team also receiving a Leiola t-shirt. 

 The tournament was extremely successful and the TNBA could not have done it without the support of the tournament sponsors. The TNBA give a huge thanks to the following sponsors for their kind donations:

 Leiola
Ca Bella
Tonga Airport Limited (TAL)
Pacific Forum Line (PFL)

The TNBA greatly appreciate, and thank the following community members and organizations who gave up their time to ensure the tournament went smoothly:

Robyn Kaho – for all her help with fundraising and sponsorship
Sione (Atele Groundskeeper) - who gives up his time every Saturday to open the stadium for basketball
MOTEYS - for allowing free use of the stadium, and
TASA for all their continuing support

Thank you also must go to the TNBA members and TNBA committee for running the day and for all the support beforehand.

With such a successful tournament and great feedback from all the participants, the TNBA hope to have these tournament held on a monthly basis. Keep your eyes on our website for further details!!!!




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