LIBERTY LAKE – A tribal basketball tournament is underway in Liberty Lake, with more than 60 teams from across the country competing for more than $15,000 in cash prizes.
Teams arrived for the opening ceremony Thursday at the Spokane Tribal Casino, with more than 900 people in attendance.
“The atmosphere is lovely, and I’m just loving every minute of it right now,” said Craig Foster, the defending champion from the Comanche Tribe in Lawton, Oklahoma.
Tournament director Jerry Ford Redbones said it gives players pride when they compete with their own tribe. He said many kids on the reservations grow up playing basketball, and it is special for them to be able to represent their tribes in this tournament.
“The Rez kids are just playing basketball all the time. They are playing hoops on the woodshed, playing underneath the stars,” Ford Redbone said.
According to Ford Redbone, this is the fifth annual and biggest native basketball tournament in America. 64 teams from across the country competed for their tribes and for traditional tribal trophies that Ford Redbone said are one of a kind.
“The whole vision behind it is I wanted to give away traditional trophies. Where you see trophies get put away in a closet, my trophies are out front, buffalo skulls,” Ford Redbone said.
Foster said this tournament is more important to him because, many times, teammates are also relatives.
“It’s one of my favorite tournaments in all of Indian country because you don’t get the choice to just hand-pick your people. You gotta play with your family, your brothers, your cousins, so it makes everybody play hard, and you represent your tribe,” Foster said.
Foster added that while the teams are competing with one another, they are all connected through a special bond.
“Man, I think it’s very cool to see different types of cultures and backgrounds and people coming from their own towns. Seeing how they were brought up and seeing the love they have for each other makes basketball that much fun; it’s bigger than the game,” Foster said.
The tournament ends on Sunday, April 7th, and the winner will go home with a trophy of an eagle as well, which they get to keep for one year until the following tournament.
