On any given day, the youth of Forest Lawn are putting their basketball skills to the test at the Forest Lawn Community Park—one that is marked with the hallowed number 24 and colours of legendary NBA player Kobe Bryant.

This year though, the players were put to a far greater challenge.

For the second year in a row on July 20, the Centre for Newcomers (CFN), and the Calgary Surge put on a three-on-three basketball tournament aimed at local high school aged students.

The selection of this year’s location, instead of in front of the Centre For Newcomers as in 2023, was to get more into the community said CFN’s Director for Youth Services Noël Bahliby.

“Last year, the Calgary Surge approached us and they wanted to see how they could do some more community engagement. We went back and forth about what that might look like, so we did a three-on-three tournament right in front of our building—like right on the front doorstep. It was really hectic, it was really fun, and it had quite a good turnout,” said Bahliby.

“We really thought how can we get a little bit more into the community, so we chose Forest Lawn Community Park. We got a lot of players out, got some great donations for the Planet Youth partnership, The BRDGE to provide food, and really just seeing how we can revitalize some of these communities that don’t really get a lot of opportunities to have these kinds of specific live events happen.”

Bahliby said that when the DJ put on the music, doors of the town homes that line the park flew open with hundreds of kids wanting to take part.

And ice cream from Righteous Gelato didn’t hurt either.

The tournament signed up 10 teams for the day, and handed out prizes for the winners at the end. But not before holding something that was a lot of fun for all involved.

Communication through teamwork

One of the competitors, Heran Tsegay, said that the tournament was “mad fun.”

“I got paired up with these two people who didn’t speak English, but it was it was good. We communicated through teamwork, and it was actually really fun,” Tsegay said.

“This is a good place to make new friends make new connections, and to just find people, to really find common ground.”

Bahliby said that in addition to holding the tournament for local youth, the goal was to show the wider Calgary community that events like the three-on-three tournament were possible.

“I think there’s still a lot of misconceptions about what Forest Lawn is, and what the community looks like and what the northeast is and what this upper part of the southeast is,” he said.

“Part of changing that attitude is coming here and engaging those youth and children. It doesn’t matter where they’re from, or what background they are, they all want to have fun. They all want to have access to opportunities. So we’re really trying to battle those attitudes, but also see how we can revitalize and make people think that ‘hey, you should have your your community event here.'”

Coun. Courtney Walcott, who in addition to working previously as an educator at Western Canada High School, was an award-winning basketball coach, said that he attended the tournament as a way to support the growth of basketball in Calgary.

“A huge part for me is actually this is growing growth of the game in a community of people who are very interested in it, and then to do so in a space that when you look at the rest of the city, and you look at some of the spaces that have the the shiny parts to it, you end up looking past some of the places that actually need that attention, need that volunteerism, and need that love from a major organization like the Surge,” Walcott said.

He said that Forest Lawn was a community that loved the Calgary Surge more than most, and that giving young people the ability to play basketball and interact with professional basketball players was huge.

“When you think about where the basketball fans in the city are coming from, a lot of them are coming from around here. So to actually be able to give people an opportunity to interact with the Surge, without exactly having to pay a ticket price to get down to WinSport,” Walcott said.

“I can barely get to WinSport sometimes, so I can only imagine what it means for Calgarians to get down there. So, to have the Surge commitment to community, especially one that loves them so much, that’s important.”

He said that as a city there was still more work to do to create events that cater directly to children, alongside more community organizations directly serving youth.

“I think too often there’s an agenda, there’s a purpose, when sometimes actually the best thing you can do for a community is to give them some fun in a safe and enjoyable place like this, especially one that’s outside their door,” Walcott said.

Bahliby said that CFN would be holding another tournament at a community location again in 2025.

“We’ve actually had a few people come up and say they heard about us through social media, and wanted to know how they could partner. Next year, it will be even a little bit bigger, and we’ll keep it in the Forest Lawn area for sure and just see how we can continue growing it.”

Among those goals, he said, was to involve other community organizations and see how they can contribute to a larger tournament.