Youth from eight cities and towns had the chance to compete head-to-head this weekend in a basketball tournament held by the Metro Mayors Coalition.
On Saturday, Aug. 11, teams from Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Quincy, Somerville, Revere, and Winthrop competed in the 10th Annual Shannon Grant Basketball Tournament at North Quincy High School. This year’s event included a three-point contest, pizza, a t-shirt design station, recognition from Governor Baker, and a visit from Quincy Mayor Koch.
The Metro Mayors Coalition is a coalition of cities and towns from Boston’s inner core who exchange information and find solutions to common problems. MAPC helped form the coalition in 2001 and facilitates the group.
The annual basketball tournament has been held since 2009 to bring together youth and police officers from the communities involved in the Metro Mayors Shannon Grant Community Safety Initiative. The Initiative is a state-funded program that supports regional and multi-disciplinary approaches to combat gang violence through coordinated programs for prevention and intervention. In its 12th year this program remains an invaluable resource for the participating communities to prevent gang and youth violence while fostering collaboration between Metro Mayors municipalities.
This year, players also had the opportunity to customize their own t-shirts by adding graphics or designs to them. Local youth artists led the t-shirt design station that youth visited in between games during the tournament. Lots of the players had unique ideas and were really creative with their shirts.
Everett won the 2018 three-point contest in a showcase of clutch shooting and clock management. Malden won this year’s basketball tournament in another close and hard fought game over Somerville. Congratulations to Malden for a well-deserved win!
MAPC would like to thank all of the volunteers, staff and participants for making this year’s tournament another success. We would also like to thank the Quincy Recreation Department for hosting the tournament.
