The Mini Basketball Festival had a successful opening day in Hermosillo

HERMOSILLO, MEXICO — The Mini Basketball Festival of the Americas and Congress held their opening ceremony to a completely full house at Parque Infantil, in the city of Hermosillo in the state of Sonora, Mexico. All national teams attended in the sports festivities that will feature more than 500 games between Thursday and Sunday between the Unidad Deportiva del Noroeste and Unidad Deportiva Hermosillo arenas. The International Congress also started at the remodeled Gimnasio del Estado — now known as Arena Sonora — including participations from the whole continent.

Toda una fiesta disfrutaron en el Parque infantil del @DIFSonora los más de 2,400 niños que se encuentran en Hermosillo para el Festival de las Américas de Mini Basketball pic.twitter.com/cUtaQ8se9I

— CODESON Oficial (@CODESONoficial) 1 de febrero de 2019

The Festival’s inauguration was attended by FIBA President Horacio Muratore; FIBA Americas President Usie Richards; FIBA Americas Executive Director, Carlos Alves; FIBA Americas Youth Commission President, Mario Méndez; as well as Florian Wanninger, International Foundation Director; and recently elected COCABA President, Mario Méndez along the city's Governor, Claudia Pavlovich; and other Mexican authorities.

There will be three game days — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — which will all jump start at 8:00 AM and the first two will last until 8:00 PM. The third — and last — will conclude at 3:00 PM with a closing ceremony that will take place at Centro de Usos Múltiples.

The challenges will last 40 minutes — 10-minute quarters —, and at the end of the tournament, all players and teams will be acknowledged according to the Mini Basketball format, whose objective is to promote formative sports.

Meanwhile, a total of 25 delegates from several nations — apart from those from Mexico — will participate in the International Congress, where speakers from the whole continent, including FIBA President Horacio Muratore, will give conferences and workshops related to the Mini Basketball category that is being promoted by FIBA. This will take place at Gimnasio del Estado, which was reopened for the first game day and renamed Arena Sonora.

Horacio Llamas

The stadium wore its best colors to begin the Congress with the presence of Governor Claudia Pavlovich Arellano, and great legends and representatives of the sports world, as well as young athletes. The presence of legendary Horacio Lamas, first Mexican to play in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns; and FIBA President Horacio Muratore, made inauguration day a true success. The state’s first official assured that “this achievement is very important for Sonora athletes, since it was recovered, rebuilt and renovated to bolster sports and (promote that) families spend time together.”

During the first day there were also talks by Mexican figures Roberto González, Mario Méndez Realpozo and Daniel Palacios; as well as interventions by Canadian Dawn Smyth; Argentines Mario Ontivero, Jorge Díaz Vélez, Ricardo Bojanich and Juan Carlos Pidal; and Sergio Lara, from Spain. Talks and workshops featuring them will continue for the next three days.

This is the first time that FIBA does an event of this nature in the Americas. The city of Hermosillo, in Sonora, offers a great basketball celebration of mini basketball in the Americas in a stage where fun, learning, love for the game, and friendship prevail. Its audience is made up of young players, coaches, physical education teachers, students to careers related to physical culture and sports, parents, sports directives, referees, and the general public.

FIBA