St. Helena’s CYO Memorial Invitational Basketball Tournament
2017 CYO Tournament Recap
Last week we wrapped up another exceptional year of the St. Helena’s CYO Memorial Invitational Basketball Tournament. The tournament was once again an amazing event that brought new and old community members together with a common purpose; watching great basketball and supporting a community on MLK weekend.
The vision of the tournament started 13+ years ago when Gary Kane, our President and CEO, wanted a way to make youth basketball players feel special, the stars of the Big event. With a little help Gary and the co-founders made a 7th and 8th grade tournament that is second to none. For example, each and every game has a signer for the National Anthem, flag bearers, and student ambassador volunteers. College announcers can be heard on the LIVESTREAM of the semifinal and final games found at www.kanepartners.net/shs with a professional video production team.
This year was extra special with the presence of former 76er player and coach, basketball legend Freddie “Maddog” Carter. Freddie is known for being the first person to popularize the “fist bump”! At 6 foot 3 Freddie was a “big” hit with everyone at the tournament even the preschoolers!
“It is a 1st class run tournament from start to finish” Gary Kane – Founder and Organizer of the event
When speaking to Gary you can tell how proud he is to be a part of such a great event for his community. Not only does the tournament draw the best teams from the Greater Philadelphia Area including Mongtomery County, Bucks County, Philadelphia County, Delaware County, and Chester County but it is a highlight of the year for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia with many teams setting a goal of garnering an invite to the tournament.
Streaming Live
Another Kane Partners staff member that gets in on the tournament action is Kristin Kane Ford, Director of Social Media. Kristin is a St. Helena graduate and a former CYO Basketball player too. She is responsible for running many of the behind the scenes tech for the tournament, including the LIVESTREAM of games and social media. She is known by most in the community, especially those attending the tournament, as being someone you can count on and always sacrificing her time and energy to make the event a success. That is one of the reasons why this year she was chosen to receive a Dedication Award from the tournament organizers to celebrate her 13 years of service.
We can’t wait to see what great things the 2018 tournament will have in store!
