Photo By Spc. Tobey White | Sgt. 1st Class Robert Parker, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade...... read more read more
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KHOWST PROVINCE, Afghanistan – It might not have been the NBA Playoffs, but the basketball tournament held at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan, April 24, certainly had its share of intensity and athletic moves.
More importantly, participants said, it was a chance for both soldiers and civilians stationed there to break up the daily grind of a combat deployment while enjoying some good times and friendly competition on a hot and sunny Easter Sunday.
Eight teams of seven players participated in the three-round competition.
The games of the first two rounds were played to 15, but for the championship game they had to score 21 points to win, said one of the event’s organizers, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Dennis Carter, a supply sergeant with Company E, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Task Force Tigershark, and native of Coral Springs, Fla.
Carter is a member of the Masonic Lodge at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Omega Military Lodge No. 196, which helped sponsor the event.
The lodge prides itself on community service, said Carter.
Lodge money gathered from members and money raised at earlier events was used for the $700 in prizes, which were awarded in the form of Post Exchange gift cards.
Jose Velez, a retired Army telecommunications specialist and contractor for the last three years at FOB Salerno, also helped organize the event.
“[The tournament] was something for the community and people to come out to do,” said Velez.
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert Parker, the fire support noncommisioned officer for 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, TF Duke, and native of New Orleans, said the tournament was a good way to engage people and get them active.
“I’ve got to break up the monotony,” joked Parker, who played on a team called “The 700 Club,” named for the prize money at stake.
The championship was a hard fought game between the 700 Club and the “Brick Squad,” who eked out a 21-20 victory.
“It feels great to play hard, even when it’s this hot out,” said U.S. Army Spc. Tyrone Nicles, with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st CAB, 10th Mtn. Div., TF Tigershark, and a resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., who played on the winning Brick Squad. “Everybody came to play and they played their best.”
| Date Taken: | 04.24.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.25.2011 00:52 |
| Story ID: | 69296 |
| Location: | KHOWST PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 523 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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