Dalton Walker
ICT
MESA, Arizona — Tucked away along the desert’s edge, way out in southeastern Mesa, near one of the Phoenix Valley’s smaller airports and inside a massive gymnasium made specifically for events like this, Jon Yarrow Jr.’s basketball vision was on display.
In three days, 234 Native basketball teams played in 566 games under one roof on about 16 basketball courts. Teams came from all over the country to compete, some came from Canada and Alaska, Yarrow said.
He promised exposure and opportunity.
Checking the numbers, the Pyramid Lake Paiute citizen delivered that and more. And Yarrow and his team got it done in less than 72 hours.
Spread across nine boys and girls divisions, teams ranged from high school to elementary school-aged. The event included some of the best Native talent in Indian Country, around a dozen college recruiters and hundreds of fans.
“We give them a platform here, where they can showcase their talents, their abilities,” Yarrow said. “We teach them a lot about communication with the college coaches. That’s the reason why we started this platform was for our juniors and seniors to get those looks, get those offers, whether it’s junior colleges all the way up to Division I.”
Yarrow is the founder and director of TRIBE Athletics, a national organization focused on highlighting Native athletes through the game of basketball.
His organization put on the 2023 TRIBE Athletics Sports Native Junior Nationals on June 23-35 in Mesa and it attracted even more teams this year. Teams were guaranteed at least four games, which included three pool play games and a single elimination tournament game with tournament winners playing around double that. The cost for teams to participate was $400.
Games were held at Legacy Park, a 320-acre sports and entertainment complex. The space was large enough for 32 teams to play simultaneously with little to no interruption, along with bleacher space for fans and walking space.
“Like today, on a Saturday morning, we had 10-15 college coaches already in the building looking at our players and that’s a great thing,” Yarrow said.
Yarrow and his team have been doing basketball tournaments for years. He started around 15 years ago in Nevada and went national about five years ago. Now, he hosts tournaments across the country throughout the year.
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Top players on their way to play college ball like Jasmine Oliver, Caleb Cole and Katie Waukau competed. Up and comers like Charlie Contraro and Mackenzie Buckner also played.
Champions were crowned on Sunday. For tournament results, download the TRIBE Athletics app to your smart device, and for photos, visit TRIBE Athletics on Facebook.
Waukau, 18, Menominee, played for Legendary Elite, a team based out of Oklahoma. Waukau is from the Green Bay, Wisconsin area and was recruited by the team to play on the summer circuit. She’s already played in tournaments in Texas, New York and Colorado.
Her team went 3-0 in pool play but came up short in the most competitive tournament bracket known as the Platinum bracket..
Waukau graduated earlier this year and has committed to play college basketball for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She said she’s a big fan of NBA legend Allen Iverson. She’s a point guard with a crossover and loves the popular Eurostep move along with shooting the three-point ball.
She said TRIBE Athletics brings a lot of exposure for players and Native talent together.
“It’s a really good platform to see Native competition, a lot of good competition, most I’ve seen since in Native basketball. I think there are really good teams here both boys and girls.”
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