MOOSE JAW — The Moose Jaw Filipino Association brought families and basketball fans together last weekend for its annual Family Day Tournament, held this year at A.E. Peacock Collegiate.
Held from Feb. 14 to 16, the three-day event saw 10 teams compete across various age groups and served as a way for Filipino residents to connect and bond over the sport that holds a special place in Filipino culture.
Attendance to the three-day tournament was free of charge, but guests received a few raffle tickets with the chance to win one of several prizes afterwards. This, tournament co-ordinator Victor Morales (right side wearing white) said, is a large part of the event’s early success and continues as a popular stand-out feature.
These individuals attended the three-day family tournament as vendors from among the Filipino community in Moose Jaw. The annual Family Day event provides one of the largest opportunities for these small businesses to get noticed and spread awareness of their brand. Their contribution also meant that families could remain at one location and didn’t have to leave A.E. Peacock Collegiate to venture into the cold in order to eat, Victor Morales noted. At the time, temperatures were reaching minus 32 degrees Celsius during an ongoing cold snap. Morales, co-ordinator of the Family Day tournament, is fifth from the left in the photo.
A snapshot from one of the matches played on the afternoon of Feb. 15 at A.E. Peacock Collegiate during the Filipino community’s yearly Family Day basketball tournament. Basketball is the most popular sport in the Philippines, and is played everywhere from professional arenas to neighbourhood streets. The accessibility of the sport makes it a unifying force in Filipino communities.
A penalty shot is taken during a game on the second day of the Filipino community’s Family Day tournament on Feb. 15.
A young athlete in the U10 division moves into position for a shot at net on the afternoon of Feb. 15. The three-day event included a basketball tournament with teams consisting of three general age tiers including children under 10, youth, and adults. Each adult team featured Filipino co-workers who participated from 10 local employers. The reason for the tournament involving virtually all age categories, tournament co-ordinator Victor Morales explained, is because the main focus for the weekend was on bringing families together.
This size of crowd was fairly consistent — and even larger during the grand opening ceremony on Saturday morning — throughout the tournament. In the gym, one member of the Filipino community reminisced about a time when, in the Class of ’87, he was the only Filipino in his school. Not that long ago, he remembers Filipino individuals attending the Family Day event from all over the province and as far away as Winnipeg to field enough teams for the tournament to be worth holding. Today, almost everyone attending the Family Day weekend lives and works in Moose Jaw. “I never thought I would live to see this,” he shared.
