Submitted by Arsenio dela Cruz: Over the Labour Day long weekend, Vaughan Ontario played host to the 8th annual Filipino Basketball Association of North America tournament. 105 teams from across the US and Canada competed in 12 different division for basketball glory. Of these 12 divisions, this years tournament introduced the newly formed Bantam Girls 14U division. FBA Team Winnipeg brought 11teams to the annual tournament and battled for bragging rights and a chance of taking home the gold.
On this weekend, FBA Winnipegs new Bantam Girls 14U team came in prepared and hopeful as none of the teams knew anything about the other. Being a new division, team Winnipeg had no idea what the competition was like. To make it more challenging, team Winnipeg brought the youngest team into the tournament ranging from 11-14 years old.
Winnipeg lost their first game by a mere 2pts to a stronger older Mississauga team. Because the FBA tournament is a double elimation format Winnipeg had to battle their way back onto the winners side. Teams from Vaughan, New York, Chicago and Durham made it an extremely tough road as team Winnipeg won by only 2-3 points to face team NewYork in the finals. Winnipegs constant full court pressure throughout the game held off the New York teams intense attack to the basket and Winnipeg came through victorious winning 37-34 to claim FBA-NA's first Bantam 14U Championship.
Congratulations to the following members and coaches that represented our city with pride and passion...
- Rachel Geli
- Raizel Guinto
- Kiara Rongavilla
- Liyanah Serapio
- Maricar Costosa
- Abby Arabe
- Alexis Garcia
- Aina Ramos
- Kim Miniano
- Julienne Coste
- Kara Vallega
Head coach: Arsenio dela Cruz
Assistant coach: Eldrin Geli and Carter dela Cruz.
Also, a big congrats to Raizel Guinto foe being awarded tournament MVP.
Our teams success would not be possible without the following...
Special thanks goes out to WAAY league, PBA of Winnipeg, Ron Quintana of the Garden City Community Center, Derek Dabee of Maples Community Center, Natasha Garcia of Pinnacle, Michelle Fontaine of Shoppers Drug Mart and Basketball Manitoba.
Team Winnipeg is now looking forward to next years tournament in Washington DC to defend the title and bring back the gold. Tryouts for next years team will be posted on waay.ca and pbawinnipeg.net