The first-ever Junior Lakers tournament was a faceoff of the best ballers from eight Boys and Girls Club Junior Lakers teams. When the final buzzer rang it sounded to the tune of a San Fernando Valley victory, as the club just edged out Challengers by a score of 36-30. San Fernando Valley parents and coaches stormed the court to celebrate the win and the group collected the first Junior Lakers Championship banner on what was an exhilarating day of Lakers youth basketball.
The tournament began with Lakers legend James Worthy, who addressed the eight participating clubs: Challengers, Hollywood, Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, Venice, Watts, Whittier, and West San Gabriel Valley. Worthy encouraged each player to give their best and compete the Laker way, the way they had practiced all season.
The Junior Lakers tournament was the culmination of a six-week Junior Lakers pilot program. The pilot program began in April at the Lakers practice facility, where coaches from each club took part in a clinic with former Laker A.C. Green and the Positive Coaching Alliance. At the clinic, the coaches learned tips and drills to use over the course of the six weeks, which led to the tournament.
During the six weeks, the Lakers worked with 500 boys and girls, ages 9-14, across the eight different clubs in the L.A. area. Lakers coaches stopped by each club during the program to assist with the practices. Each participating club was given a $1,000 donation from the Lakers Youth Foundation to execute the programming, Junior Lakers jerseys, and special Lakers items.
Lakers reporter Mike Trudell was on hand to interview the players after each game and Lakers Spanish TV Announcers Adrian Garcia Marquez and Francisco Pinto entertained the crowd as the PA announcers for the day.
In the first round San Fernando Valley survived a second-half come back from Venice and advanced to the next round while, Whittier outshot Watts, Challengers took down Los Angeles and Hollywood defeated West San Gabriel Valley.
The Junior Lakers will continue this season and will allow the Lakers organization to work with Los Angeles youth to develop fundamental basketball skills, teamwork, sportsmanship and community involvement, with positive adult supervision.