Just over 2 weeks ago, we showed you opening of the Eastern Division South Cup. It was the brain child of former Eastern Division South Commander, Chester Williams, as a community outreach initiative to get at risk youths in gang neighborhoods to socialize in a positive and peaceful setting.
Now in its third year, the Police Department has gotten major help from Bowen and Bowen, through their Sprite Brand, as well as the National Sports Council, and the Belize City Council, to improve on the tournament.
We stopped by this Saturday to see how the tournament was being played on the Wilton Cumberbatch Basketball Court, in the Port Loyola area. That court had gang graffiti all over it, and so, the Sports Council teamed up with residents of the neighborhood to repair and repaint it.
Here's what the tournament's participants and organizers had to say about the community efforts to make these weekend games a success:
ACP Chester Williams
"Today we'll be having a total of 6 games featuring teams from across the city. It is a part of us doing an intervention through sports and we're happy to have been joined in this effort by the partnering agencies including the Department of Youth Services and the Sports Council who are playing an important role in terms of ensuring that the statistics are taken, the games are properly refed. It's going quite well today I must say."
Orson Elrington
"For every facility that we use for this citywide tournament, we try to go in and do the necessary renovations and refurbishment to bring it up to standard. In this one of them we found was gang memorabilia in the center of the court and it painted in the colors of gangs. What we did was reach out to the members of the community. The gentlemen who are participating in the tournament and explain to them the situation. They agreed to paint it Lakers colors, as a calves fan that hurt me a little bit. Nonetheless they decided on the colors and they also helped with the painting of the court itself."
Coordinator
"Because we live in Yabra, people has us stigmatized. Every area has their own little thing. I don't think that we need to have a logo on us to brand us. At the end of the day we're all human beings, we're all people and we don't need to have a SSG, or anything to put us somewhere."
Orson Elrington
"I think that when people actually participate in the process of actually putting their sweat equity into the process, it takes a lot more ownership over the facility and therefore, it would be kept up to par and they will ensure that it doesn't turn into graffiti or any other thing."
Participant
"Everyone goes to play ball on their own hood court. Every hood has its court. Some of them aren't sensible, but there's still a court. Some men prefer to play in a muddy court than to come way over here to play in a nice area because they just cling to where they're from."
Reporter
"Do you tend to counsel the people you play with in these tournaments or to at least give them positive reinforcement, like 'you don't need to go to the streets, you don't need a gun'?"
Participant
"Basically you have to do that, because the older folks do that to me. The least I can do is pass it on to the younger ones even if you might lose some. If you can reach out to one person, one person can change their life to positivity. That's a plus."
ACP Chester Williams
"We have not received any complaints of any of the members of our teams giving problems out on the streets in the ongoing gang warfare. We're satisfied that those persons who are a part of the tournament are living up to expectations as one of the conditions is that they are not to be accused or involved in any crime during the course of the tournament. If we should get information that either of them are involved in any type of crime and dealt with by the police, they'll be suspended from the team."
And in an update related to the tournament, you'll remember how Caribbean Shores Area Representative Kareem Musa was complaining about the National Sports Council's decision to take down the backboards and rims he had installed at the Basketball Court off Seashore Promenade.
OJ Elrington promised that the court would be renovated, and the backboards and rims would be replaced.
Well, 2 Saturdays ago, that was done, and the South Cup tournament's games were played there without any issues.
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