EVERYTHING is set for the historic Chooks To GO SBP 3x3 Basketball tournament on Jan. 12 and 13 at the Sisters of Mary (SMS) Boystown in Minglanilla and SMS Girlstown in Talisay City.
The event, which is supported fully by Chooks to Go president Ronald Mascariñas, will have some 3,000 players trying to set a world record for the most number of 3x3 participants in a tournament.
“The thrust of Chooks to Go is for the youth. Our ultimate goal is to promote our product through sports,” said Chooks To Go executive Alfred Espina.
In the Boys 18-Under division, some 1,111 particpants spread over 277 teams will take on each other in the 25 basketball courts of SMS Boystown.
On the second day, 1,585 girls spread over 397 teams will play in the 25 basketball courts of SMS Girstwon.
The event, which will have a total of 952 games, will have a pool of 120 referees from different groups of Cebu.
Local organizers are grateful to Chooks to Go and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) for supporting the project.
“I was really shocked,” said SMS athletic director Van Halen Parmis, who started the athletic program at SMS Boystown when he held a basketball clinic there one Christmas break a few years ago.
“The sisters running the school are very happy and the kids, too. The girls and boys are very excited,” he said.
Parmis said when officials of Chooks to Go and SBP visited the place, the students put up a short program and gave them a warm welcome.
“They were really happy with the warm welcome and they want to give back to the kids,” he said.
Chooks to Go also got convinced to tap SMS after Parmis’s team put on a great performance in a Pambansang Tatluhan event.
That led to SMS being chosen as the site to hold the biggest 3x3 youth basketball tournament in Asia.
On the other hand, the Cebu Provincial Sports Commission (CPSC) is also happy that SMS, which it also supports, was chosen as the venue.
“We are also very happy that this will be held at the SMS since they are also a beneficiary of the commission. I think this program will be very effective,” said CPSC executive dirctor Ramil Abing. (ESL of SuperBalita Cebu)