OTHELLO — The annual 3-on-3 Fourth of July basketball tournament was held at Lions Park on Saturday afternoon. The tournament featured four teams on a double elimination bracket fighting for the championship title. 

“I think it went well,” said Jackie Wilhelm, Executive Director at the Othello Chamber of Commerce. “We as a chamber always rely on volunteers and then just them wanting to help and be part of the event.”

This year the teams volunteered to help organize and run the tournament play. The high school players helped create the double elimination bracket for the chamber and the adult team in the bracket ensured play went smoothly in games throughout the competition.

“We were kind of struggling trying to figure it out and once we asked them, they stepped in and were like, ‘Yeah we do this all the time,’” said Wilhelm. 

The Ballerz, one of the high school teams, came out on top of the bracket to become the Fourth of July champions. The tournament was split the pot so the winning team got to take home $200 while the other $200 went back to help fund community activities. 

One of the main goals as the chamber already begins planning for next year is to get more teams involved in the tournament. Wilhelm said efforts have already begun with the teams who participated this year to begin recruiting more teams. 

Bringing in more participants into future tournaments is something she said will help grow the tournament to be more competitive into the future. For future tournaments she wants to spend more time promoting sign-ups and look into bringing in someone with experience with the local basketball community to help organize the event. 

With the help of the high schoolers and others experienced with basketball down the line, she hopes that the tournament will become a staple of the summer. 

“It really takes a village and a lot of them sounded excited to want to do that with us next year,” Wilhelm said. “I’m looking forward to that because I know there’s a big interest for basketball.”

    One of the Ball Brothas players prepares to make a shot at the net while warming up Saturday afternoon.
  

    A player from the Ritz Runners looks to make his way past a Ballers player in the first round of the Fourth of July tournament.
  

    A player from the Ballerz goes in for the layup during Saturday’s 3-on-3 tourney.