CARTERSVILLE, GA –- To generate excitement around youth basketball across the state of Georgia, the Atlanta Hawks Basketball Academy organized the Atlanta Hawks Youth Classic, the state’s largest-ever free-to-register youth basketball showcase, which occurred this past weekend at LakePoint Champions Center. At the three-day showcase, a total of 125fun and competitivebasketball games took place on 12 hardwood basketball courts at the state-of-the-art facility.
“The Atlanta Hawks Youth Classic was an incredible success,” said Hawks Vice President of Basketball Development Jon Babul. “As we strive to grow the game of basketball across Metro Atlanta and the state of Georgia, we are proud to have created a fun, safe, competitive and inclusive environment for athletes to enjoy a memorable experience.”
The showcase featured 80 teams who had their registration costs covered by local attorney Ken Nugent’s ‘Score for Scholarships’ program in partnership with the Atlanta Hawks Foundation.
“We were thrilled to host the Atlanta Hawks Youth Classic here at LakePoint,” said Dean Keener, senior vice president of business development at LakePoint Sports. “The Hawks planned a fantastic event that brought together players, coaches and their families from across Georgia for an exciting weekend of great basketball.”
Each team had the opportunity to compete in three games within their divisions, which were broken up relative to the participants’ age and ability. An “open” division consisted of teams from schools, religious-affiliated organizations, parks and recreation departments, community centers as well as developmental basketball programsand an “elite” division was denoted as a competitive division consisting of all-star teams, club teams and travel basketball teams. As part of the event, there was also an eight-team bracket comprised of athletes from Special Olympics Georgia, one of the newest partners of the Atlanta Hawks Foundation.
The winners of each division were:
• 14U Boys Elite – Tri-City Elite (Columbus, GA)
• 14U Girls Elite – Strong Center 2024 (Fuquay Varina, NC)
• 14U Boys Open – Freeze (Anderson, SC)
• 14U Girls Open – Georgia Pistols (Atlanta, GA)
• 12U Boys Elite – Relentless (LaGrange, GA)
• 12U Boys Open – 360 Ballers (Acworth, GA)
• 12U Girls Open – FBC Blitz (Marietta, GA)
• Special Olympics Georgia –Just People (Norcross, GA)
As a result of their team’s performance in this tournament, the winners of the 14U Girls Elite (Strong Center 2024) and 14U Boys Elite (Tri-City Elite) qualified for the Jr. NBA Global Championship Southeast Regional, which is set to take place at LakePoint Champions Center in June. At the Southeast Regional, they will compete for an opportunity to participate in the Jr. NBA Global Championships at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla in August.
The Atlanta Hawks continue to provide programming an ongoing basis for youth basketball players regardless of their ability or skill level. For more information, visit: hawks.com/community.