Kosrae and PICS emerge as “Holiday Hoops” men’s and women’s basketball champions
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- Category: Sports
- Published: Tuesday, 19 March 2019 03:16
- Written by Bill Jaynes
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By Bill Jaynes
The Kaselehlie Press
January 4, 2019
Pohnpei—Men’s and women’s basketball teams from all over the FSM met in the FSM for the recently concluded “Holiday Hoops” competition. Competitions were divided between the Kolonia China Friendship gym at Spanish Wall Park and the China FSM Friendship gym at the College of Micronesia FSM in Palikir.
With the exception of Yap, each of the four FSM States was represented by at least one team. A total of 11 men’s teams and four women’s teams competed. The Marshall Islands was invited to send a team but was unable to manage it in time.
The competition opened with a ceremony on December 23rd and ended with the men’s finals on December 30 and the women’s finals on December 31.
The Chuuk High School team took third place in the men’s competitions. Xavier High School took second place, and the men from Kosrae High School took the championship position in the final men’s tournament.
Calvary Christian Academy women took third place. Pohnpei Seventh Day Adventist women took second place. Pohnpei Island Centrals School women emerged as the champions in the women’s competitions.
According to organizers, ten sponsors stepped up to help fund the competition. They were:
FSCO Pohnpei Stevedoring, FSM Department of Education, FSM Department of Health/Youth Program, Pohnpei State Strategy Prevention Frame Work - Partners for Success (SPF-PFS), Kolonia Town Government, Pohnpei State Stop Underage Drinking Prevention Organization, Pohnpei State Sports Office, College of Micronesia – FSM, Central Union for Young Adult (CUYA), and Pohnpei Ace Hardware.
Several Youth Awareness Campaign messages underpinned some of the central values of the tournament. They were:
“Stop Underage Drinking”, “Children Should NOT Raise Children”, “Say Yes to Education Say No to Teen Pregnancy”, “Stay in School More Opportunities Ahead of you”, and “Stay in school you are the future of the nation tomorrow”.
