Boys & Girls Club of Chicopee Nurtures Athletes with Healthy Habits
13th annual George Webb Memorial Basketball Tournament to Begin March 10
CHICOPEE—Daimian Ocasio was 3 when he got hooked on basketball. He found a ball on the floor of his house and taught himself to dribble.
Now, at 14, he plays forward center as a starter for the Hampden Charter School of Science’s high school team. An eighth grader, and the youngest member of the team, Ocasio knows basketball is doing more than improving his reputation.
“Basketball helps me to be a better person. I’m always in the gym, playing basketball, so it keeps me out of trouble,” he said. “It helps me.”
Ocasio is one of roughly 500 young people who will take part in the 13th Annual George Webb Memorial Basketball Tournament to benefit the Boys & Girls Club, beginning March 10.
The event is the largest of its kind in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut, drawing hundreds of spectators and players, and this year it promises to grow again with the addition of two new high school divisions—one for ninth and tenth graders, and one for eleventh and twelfth.
This year marks Ocasio’s fourth tournament, and he’s excited to play at an event that raises money for the Boys & Girls Club because it has nurtured him as a player—and as a young man. Last year, Ocasio took the bus there every day after school to play basketball.
“The coaches were so nice. They pushed me to get better at basketball. They were always there for me, no matter what,” he said. “If I was down, they would always bring me back up. They’d say, ‘Come on Daimian, you got this!’ and that would help me get better.”
The tournament is sponsored by The Vann Group of Springfield, a professional services outsourcing company headed by Kevin B. Vann. The three-week event was created by Vann in 2005 to honor his best friend, the late George Webb, who died of cancer at age 52.
“I am proud and humbled to say that we are nearing the $150,000 mark in funds raised from our tournament supporters from Chicopee and across the region to support the Boys & Girls Club,” Vann said. “I love this tournament as much as I did the day I founded it.”
In keeping with Webb’s spirit, the basketball tournament is for teams of boys and girls aged 8 to 18 who are not top players and wouldn’t otherwise get to play in a tournament.
“Since the tournament’s start in 2005, thousands of young people have had the chance to play a sport and learn life lessons in the process,” Vann said.
The Boys & Girls Club website, on its tournament page, highlights that Webb played basketball at the club on Tuesday evenings, and “He will be remembered for being a tireless competitor on both ends of the court. He loved playing defense and rebounding as much as he loved his outside shots. He very seldom lost a match-up or game, but, when he did, he showed true sportsmanship to whoever he was playing against.”
For more information about the tournament, visit www.bgcchicopee.org. For information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Ruth Griggs at (413) 727-3354 or email her at Ruth@rccomms.com.
To learn about the Boys & Girls Club of Chicopee, visit its website at www.bgcchicopee.org.
