On Monday, Jan. 6, the Kingswood Oxford boys basketball team hosted a 3v3 basketball tournament to raise money for a program in Boston that promotes autism awareness and inclusion in sports. A total of 30 teams played, which consisted of alumni, parents, and both Upper School students and Middle School students, some even from outside the KO community.
The tournament ran for two hours. During the first hour, each team played six games against other teams. “Based on how you did there, the top teams were seeded, and then we did a single elimination tournament for the second hour,” Spanish teacher and varsity boys basketball assistant coach Ronald Garcia said. When the tournament concluded, medals were given out to each member of the team that performed the best in each division. There were four divisions: middle school, high school varsity and JV, and adults.
As part of a charity basketball game at TD Garden in Boston, the KO boys basketball team raised money for an autism awareness and inclusion in sports program. “All teams that play in Boston Garden on that day need to raise at least $7,200, so we had different ideas of ways to raise money for that program,” Mr. Garcia said. “The 3v3 was one of the ways to raise money.”
According to Mr. Garcia, junior Carter Meshanic proposed the idea of a 3v3 tournament. This idea proved to be successful as 30 teams participated and $900 was made. The basketball team also hosted events subsequent to the 3v3 tournament to raise money, such as an NBA 2K20 video game tournament in November and tickets for the game. Each team was charged $30, and extra money was donated as well.
Mr. Garcia said his favorite part of the tournament was that everyone enjoyed it. “Everyone had fun, and it was nice playing against different people,” he said. “We had great varsity players who were playing against Middle School [students] at some point, or playing against older people and everyone had fun.”
Mr. Garcia and the boys basketball team hopes that the game at TD Garden can be something they look forward to every year, as it is a great experience for the players and they get to raise money for a good cause. “Hopefully we are able to do the game at the Boston Garden every year,” Mr. Garcia said. “If we do, then we’ll raise money every single year. We are also hoping to do something to raise money over the summer for next year’s game.”
The boys varsity basketball team still enjoyed the experience of playing at TD Garden and raising money for a good cause.
