FYBA wins 5 basketball championships in Labor Day tournament
The Filipino-American Youth Basketball Association (FYBA), representing the Metro DC area in the annual North American Basketball Association (NABA) Labor Day tournament, took home five championship trophies, two runner up honors, and a sterling performance by the rest of the teams.
The annual tournament was held last Labor Day weekend in Spooky Nook, the largest indoor sports complex in North America, located just outside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. FYBA, sending a contingent of 15 teams (11 representing DC and four representing Virginia) to the two-day tournament, had the largest representation among the 24 participating cities from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The Numbers:
• 14 of the total 15 FYBA teams all won their first game on Day 1
• 12 teams continued on to play on Day 2 with seven having undefeated records
• 5 teams won their Championships games with 2 teams as Runners Up
The Champions:
• DC Mosquitos (U-9)
• DC Tykes (U-11)
• DC Peewee (U-13)
• DC Damsels (U-14)
• DC Collegiate (U-24)
The Runners Up:
• DC Juvenile (U-20)
• DC Masters (Over-40)
The entire FYBA contingent, from Mosquitos all the way to Masters, played all their games with heart and soul, especially the Tykes team, who had to play eight games in two days. With their backs against the wall, they won all six consecutive games to climb up from the Losers bracket to grab the much-coveted Championship trophy.
“The proof of our success is the rising profile of our players and our dominance at the recent NABA, with our teams going to 7 championship games, and winning 5 of them,” FYBA said in a statement.
FYBA was founded in 2007 by its current president Russell Casapao and about 25 Filipino families in the Metro Washington DC area (which includes the suburbs of Virginia and Maryland also called the ‘DMV’). The ‘DMV’ is one of the largest Filipino population centers on the East Coast of the U.S.
Next year will be the group’s 10th year anniversary, its rise as a powerhouse in FilAm basketball described as phenomenal. The FYBA has a house league season in the Fall and in the Spring. They typically have between 150 to 200 youth players (ages 4 to 17 years old) every season.
Since its founding, the FYBA has seen its players advance to high school and now college basketball programs. Brandon Chauca is the first player to play for an NCAA Division 1 basketball program. Another player, Jordan Bartlett, did receive strong interest from a couple of D-1 programs, but recently decided to play for National University. Quentin Mallora-Brown now has three college basketball offers, and he is only a junior.
But perhaps their most talented group of players are just entering their freshman year in high school. They have been the beneficiary of fully-developed Select Team AAU program, which involves year-round training, practices, AAU tournaments and Winter-Summer league play.
“In less than 10 years, FYBA has grown from a group of a couple dozen families to one of the most feared Fil-Am basketball powerhouses in North America,” said Cesar Conda, chairman of the Board of FYBA. His five sons have all played in FYBA.
FYBA’s greatest performance yet can very well be attributed to the aches and pains of year-long practices, clinics, and mini tournaments, provided by the FYBA organization and its very supportive coaches, parents, donors and volunteers. It has become a must activity for FilAm youth in the DMV every Sunday, being physically active and at the same time having fun and a way to meet new friends. – Filipino-American Youth Basketball Association
From a couple dozen families in 2007, the FYBA is now a powerhouse organization of coaches, parents, donors and volunteers
