PACOIMA : Tournament Shoots for Racial Diversity

To Ruben Ledesma, ethnic diversity is not just a catch-phrase. It’s an entrance requirement if you want to play in the Shoot 4 Peace Basketball Tournament.

“That’s what makes this tournament different from all the rest,” said Ledesma, a former gang member who, with the help of legislators and a few community groups, started the tournament.

The event got under way Wednesday. There are three players on each team, with teams divided into junior and senior divisions. The approximately 100 players range in age from 13 to 30 years old. Each game is to 15 points or 20 minutes.

The championship round will be played today at David M. Gonzalez/Pacoima Recreation Center.

Sponsored by Rep. Howard L. Berman, state Assemblyman Richard Katz and state Sen. David A. Roberti, the tournament did not allow teams with players all of the same race to enter.

Ledesma said he started the tournament to help ease the tensions between young African Americans and Latinos in the northeast Valley.

At first, some of the players were frustrated because they could not find suitable partners, he said.

“That just shows you we have these types of problems,” said Ledesma, 23, of Pacoima. But they were able to pair up individual players to form multiethnic teams.

The quarterfinals of the tournament start at 9 a.m. Saturday with the championship at 11:30 a.m. Larry Drew, a former player and current assistant coach for the Lakers, will be on hand to support the players, along with Berman and Katz.

Four National Basketball Assn. referees will be working the championship game.

A crowd of as many as 50 or 60 people have turned out to watch the preliminary games, Ledesma said, which he found encouraging.

“This is just the beginning,” Ledesma said, adding that he hoped to have more tournaments, the next one to be held within a few months.

Many of the players are members of formerly rival gangs, but with a peace treaty that was forged a few months ago, that has not been a concern, Ledesma said.

The tension comes from Latino and African American adults coming out of the prison system, telling youths that they should not associate with those of other races, Ledesma said.

He added that he hopes the tournament will turn that trend around, but says it is too early to tell.

Also sponsoring the tournament is the Pacoima Community Youth Culture Center, the San Fernando Gardens Resident Advisory Council, the city Department of Recreation and Parks, and New Directions for Youth.