Cape Town - The Cape Town Tigers Basketball Club met young people from across Cape Town in the hope of using sport as a mechanism for transformation this Freedom Day.
An Under-16 boys basketball tournament, hosted by the Hout Bay Hurricanes Basketball Club, was held at the Hangberg Sport Centre on Wednesday.
About 200 young people from across Cape Town were present, with the Hout Bay Hurricanes Basketball Club, DTS Basketball Club, YMCA Tigers and Mavericks Basketball Club participating.
The event sought to promote social cohesion and national pride, Cape Town Tigers PR manager Roscoe Jacobs said.
A talk on Freedom Day was held afterwards, followed by a motivational talk and interaction with the Cape Town Tigers.
“We decided to honour the invite by Hout Bay Hurricanes because this event is about celebrating our national day and pride as a country. Cape Town Tigers love South Africa and support programmes that seek to build national pride and social cohesion,” Jacobs said.
The event also sought to motivate up-and-coming future Tigers’ players, Jacobs said.
“It will help them in taking pride in being South African and also assist in seeing the potential opportunities basketball has to offer them in the future.
“We are inspired by the legacy of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu and we are using basketball to build on their legacy to transform South Africa for the betterment of all.”
The Cape Town Tigers are the South African and southern African Regional Club Basketball Champions, and are representing South Africa in the Basketball Africa League playoffs scheduled to take place in Kigali, Rwanda, in May.
The team, which was started less than two years ago, have already started junior and women’s teams.
Hout Bay Hurricanes Basketball Club coach Aubrey Putti said: “We are grateful for Cape Town Tigers and the clubs honouring our event today.
“Today was a great day for basketball. Through the game we were able to celebrate being South Africa.”