MANDARIN-When four local high school teams tip off their boys basketball season tonight and tomorrow, there will be an even greater reason to celebrate.
Lee, Ed White and Westside will join host Mandarin Nov 15-16 in the Third Annual Dreams Come True Basketball tournament. Admission is $5 per person, each day.
While the pre-season Tip Off Classic is the main event; it’s not the only draw as the whole purpose of the event is to help sponsor a local kid and give him a weekend he will never forget.
Through major sponsor Chartwells and others like Cady Studios and the four schools that work with their booster groups, the event is able to raise funds for our Dreamer Mikale Smith and his family to go on an all-expense paid trip to Disney World in Orlando in celebration of Smith’s third birthday and remission of his illness.
The preseason classic will kick off tonight at 5:30 p.m. with Ed White and Lee playing in the opener followed by Westside and Mandarin at 7 p.m. in the second game of the day.
Birthday festivities are set to commence between games featuring a birthday celebration given to Smith by tournament team participants, the Jacksonville Jaguars, JROTC cadets, cheerleaders and Jacksonville University.
The two-day event concludes with a third place game at 5:30 and the championship game at 7 p.m. to end the tip-off classic.
The second evening of the tournament will highlight other Dreamers and their families, as well as a dribbling contest. Both nights will include a healthy meal served out of the food truck for our basketball players and dreamers provided by Chartwells. The games will be officiated by a SABO crew.
After the conclusion of the first game between White and Lee, all team members, coaches, cheerleaders, mascots etc. will be on the floor for the festivities.
Among the scheduled events tonight are the Mandarin cheerleaders leading the entire gym in singing Happy Birthday to Mikale; the four basketball teams (Ed White, Lee, Westside, Mandarin) along with Terry Parker presenting Mikale with a birthday gift along with the Jaguars and JU.
After the birthday presentations, Mikale will then go to the center of the court to be an honorary captain with the officials and be presented with the “Big Check” to Dreams Come True on behalf of the four participating schools to Sheri Creswell, Executive Director of Dreams Come True.
