Thank you for participating in the 2010 Nikkei Games 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 co-ed basketball tournament. This year's tournament covered two days and had 396 teams and 1,533 participants, making this the largest tournament in the history of the Nikkei Games. The best part was we gave out over 1,200 medals and awards this weekend.
It is through your participation and support that makes this tournament possible. We are very thankful and appreciative of your support. We trust you, your teams and families and friends had a great time. Hopefully, they enjoyed the beautiful Pyramid as well as the excitement and fast-paced games of the 3-on-3 half court format.
For those of you who were at the Opening Ceremonies, you were able to see the beautiful actress and past Miss Nisei Week Queen, Tamlyn Tomita and experience her enthusiastic and engaging performance as our Mistress of Ceremonies. We also trust you enjoyed the wonderful singing of Lauren Hanako Kinkade, accomplished vocalist and 2001 Miss Nisei Week Queen. We also hope you and your families enjoyed the Parade of Athletes. We think the 300+ kids that were there had a great time marching in the Parade behind their respective organization’s placard.
We appreciate the newly crowned 2010 Nisei Week Queen, Lani Kume Nishiyama and her Court taking time from their busy schedule to be with us at the Opening Ceremonies and adding their poise, beauty and elegance to the festivities. We were also honored to have the president of the Nisei Week Foundation, Mr. Hayato Tamura join us.
We hope you enjoyed the sharing of childhood experiences and words of wisdom from our two guest speakers, Garrett James and Jordan Hamamoto. Both of them played SEYO basketball and this year received college scholarships to play basketball. They are great role models for the kids to show that boys, too can earn a college basketball scholarship and you don' t have to be 6' 5" to do it. The parents in the stands applauded when they advised the kids to stop playing video games.
We also hope you enjoyed the Taiko performances of Daion Taiko of the Orange County Buddhist Church in Anaheim as well as the dazzling and entertaining dance moves and ball handling skills of Dean Otsuka. And thank you for being there to show your support for our generous sponsors. For those of you who could not make it, we hope you will take the opportunity to join us next year.
In keeping with the legacy our Nikkei Games forefathers started over 75 years ago, our goal is to create an environment for having healthy competition and building lasting friendships. We also endeavor to celebrate the Japanese traditions of our past and preserve them for our future. This is our mission and our guiding light as we continue to spread the spirit of the Nikkei Games!
This year, we had as many players 15 years old and younger as we had 16 years old and older. We even had teams with fathers and sons playing together. This breadth of participation truly demonstrates our motto: "The Nikkei Games: Games for the Generations." We hope you will share this vision and help make the Nikkei Games something our grandchildren will be able to enjoy.
The basketball tournament results will be posted very soon on the Nikkei Games website at www.nikkeigames.org as well as published in the Rafu Shimpo.
A special thank you to those of you who volunteered to be court commissioners. It is one of the most challenging jobs of the tournament and it is also one of the most important. We are always in need of strong court commissioners because of the length of the tournament. It is very clear the success of the tournament is directly related to the quality of our court commissioners. If you did not have the opportunity to be a court commissioner this year, please take advantage of the opportunity next year.
Also, please join us in thanking our Nikkei Games sponsors, coordinators and the more than 350 volunteers who make this event such a great success. The only way we can keep the player fee low is through the generous support of our sponsors and the countless hours of our volunteers.
This year we closed the majority of our divisions in July. Even though the tournament is two days now, we continue to turn away teams each year. So next year, please get your applications in early. The 2011 Nikkei Games basketball application should be available on our website sometime in March 2011. The tournament is expected to be even bigger and better next year!
Finally, if you have any comments or suggestions on improving the Nikkei Games basketball tournament, please let us know. Your feedback is very important in making the tournament better each year.
Again, thank you for your participation and support of the Nikkei Games, the largest Nikkei Sports Festival in the country.
We look forward to seeing you next year!
Sincerely,
Wallace Chan
2010 Nikkei Games
Basketball Chairperson