Community event to welcome FIBA athletes

A week of events is being planned for Pen Centre to welcome the best young basketball players from throughout the Americas when they arrive in Niagara.

“The idea is to do something that I’ve not seen yet,” said Bawe Nsame, a graduate of Brock University’s sports management program and co-founder of B&M Agency.

The local sports marketing firm has organized a series of pre-tournament community engagement events June 1 to 8 at the shopping centre, leading up to the start of the FIBA U-18 Americas Championship that take place from June 10 to 16 at Meridian Centre.

“It’s a great time,” Nsame said. “We really put in the work to create an experience.”

He said stickers on the floor of the shopping centre will guide visitors to the celebrations taking place all week, while flags of the countries that are participating will decorate the halls.

The event, sponsored by presented by Brock University’s BioLinc, will feature interactive attractions for basketball fans of all ages will be set up including virtual reality basketball, arcade games, a digital photo booth, a giant welcome card to sign, wish all teams good luck and about 10 televisions showing highlights about the tournament.

While tournament itself will be unique, being the first time it has been held in Canada, Nsame said “having a pre-event like this and bringing the community together I think says a lot as well.”

He said the event will include a welcome for each of the teams as they arrive, culminating in a rally for Team Canada when the team ranked No. 2 in the world arrives.

“When team Canada arrives on Friday (June 8) the idea is to have a pep rally to get the crowd going … just to get everyone pumped up. They’re the home team. It’s our country,” he said.

Nsame said the location will bolster businesses within the Pen Centre, by bringing additional people to the shopping centre.

“We’re grateful for the Pen Centre. They’ve been working really closely with us,” he said, adding basketball fans might also have an opportunity to shop around and see what the stores are offering.

“This event is for the whole community,” he said.