Best Turnout Yet for Street Mayor's Classic

Monday, 10 June 2019 at 14:00

The Street Mayor's Classic in Woodstock was a huge success on Saturday with 18 teams and over 80 basketball players competing.

WOODSTOCK - The Street Mayor's Classic in Woodstock was a huge success on Saturday with 18 teams and over 80 basketball players competing.

Why Not Us Treasurer Duane Kumala-Thomas says the program has really grown over the last 7 years.

"Everything turned out fantastic, it was a great turnout, our largest yet, which is a great sign that things are growing. All of the kids had a great time, the parents and families had a great time. We have received a lot of thank you's and notes of appreciation from the parents and players as well."

Team Omega won the Senior Division and every member of that team won a pair of sneakers. 2K Defaults won the Junior division and ISO Fam won the Elementary division on a 3 point buzzer beater. The winning players walked away with championship jerseys.

Kumala-Thomas says Why Not Us started out as a t-shirt, 7 years ago.

"It started out 7 years ago during a teachers strike and we just put something together for the kids, to have some extra curricular activities. That sparked the Why Not Us movement, which actually just started out as a t-shirt that we had made for that year. Two years later it became a non profit and we have continued and continued, all while trying to build a state of the art basketball court, which is the Kendall Court project and everything we do is to try to raise money to get the Kendall Courts project, the courts built. We have had amazing support from the City, local businesses, the community, our volunteers and everyone has really rallied behind us and encouraged us to carry on and continue to urge us on to do what we do which is mentorship through arts and athletics."

Kumala-Thomas says he has noticed a huge surge in popularity for the sport of basketball in Woodstock and Canada, which can be credited to the Toronto Raptors and the success they have had over the past 7 years.