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Story by: Cpl. Kelly R. Stevens
OKINAWA, Japan - Team sports help the players involved learn communication skills and decision making while also teaching them the importance of mutual respect. The four teams who signed up for the Kinser Open Basketball Tournament last weekend benefitted from the opportunity to improve upon these skill sets by playing in the tournament.
"This gives them a chance to come out here and really spend time with each other outside of the uniform and hopefully they can learn a little teamwork and camaraderie," said Otis Miller, tournament coordinator.
According to Miller, basketball tournaments are held by Semper Fit as often as possible based on interest and participation, however, this is the first basketball tournament held at Camp Kinser in more than a year.
"We’re trying to bring back the basketball tournaments. It wasn’t a big thing this past year, but we just went through [Permanent Change of Station] season and people are asking for the tournaments more so now we have a chance to bring it out here for them," said Miller.
"We stole a chance to put this on and I’m really happy to do it for the Marines," Miller added. While Oki Ice, a high school team from Kadena, stood out early with a 68-18 spanking of a team coined "4th Marines," they faltered in their second game as they faced The Warriors, a team comprised of Marines and family members from 3rd Marine Logistics Group.
The loss meant Oki Ice would move to the loser’s bracket and would be required to face Looney Tunes next. Looney Tunes forced overtime. During the three minute grudge-match, Oki Ice battled their way to a victory and secured their place in the championship game where they would face The Warriors again.
The Warriors, who have only been playing together for six months, don’t hold organized practices. They play for the fun of the sport.
"Basketball is just fun," said Terrence Terrell. "It helps me stay out of trouble and I’m okay today because of it."
After all was said and done, the youngsters from Oki Ice, learned that sometimes the experience and wisdom that comes with age wins out over everything else as The Warriors beat Oki Ice in the championship game to ice the tournament.
"We still have some things we need to work on, but it feels good to get the win," said Terrell.
| Date Taken: | 09.10.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 09.12.2010 22:18 |
| Story ID: | 56163 |
| Location: | OKINAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 23 |
| Downloads: | 4 |
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