Hoops are community happening

BY ADAM MISCH

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 2:58 PM EDT

Spread across four basketball courts in Richmond Hill, over 80 people laced up their sneakers for a three-on-three basketball tournament for a chance to reign as some of Queens’ best.

On Sunday, September 20, the SEVA organization, a Richmond Hill-based nonprofit community group serving the area’s Sikhs and others, hosted a basketball tournament on the courts in Smokey Park.

Announced by word-of-mouth and Facebook messages, the first ever SEVA sporting event went off without a hitch. SEVA actually means community service in Punjabi.

“Our main objective is community empowerment through organizing, and we have been committed to organizing in Queens neighborhoods since 2005,” said Gurpal Singh, the founder of SEVA. “We believe that the more people are engaged with each other through civic, political, social and even athletic engagement, the more efficient, productive, and nurturing a community becomes.”

The neighborhood hoopsters, who mainly reside in Richmond Hill, got a chance to showcase their flashy passes and scoring ability in front of an audience that grew larger as the games progressed. The 15 to 25-year-old participants were excited to have a tournament that was so close to home.

“You'll find me here any given weekday or weekend, but I’ve never seen a tournament like this here in Richmond Hill,” Singh said. “We can’t wait till the next one.”

For most of the attendees, many being first generation Americans, this was their first time participating in an organized sports tournament. Trophies were given to the first, second, and third place teams.

District Leader and candidate for City Council, Frank Gulluscio, also came out to support the event. Many of the players were excited to meet Gulluscio, adding that they had never met a politician before.

“The basketball tournament organized by the SEVA community organization is an amazing show of community empowerment,” said Gulluscio, who also helped promote voter registration during the event. “There is a vibrant and growing community here that needs more resources and attention from the city.”

SEVA’s youth organizing has been expanding dramatically over the past six months. Singh says that the association started with only a few people, and now they have dozens of contributors.

“Our goal with the youth is to make them conscious of the community conditions they live in and to take an active role in improving them,” Singh said.

The winners were crowned and the organization had recruited some eager new members.

“Many of the young men who had not heard of SEVA before wanted to become members and help organize other events such as tackle football, softball, and handball tournaments,” Singh said.