For Keon Davis, owner of Smooth ‘N Groove, a smoothie shop in Auburn, the inaugural Man-Up Basketball Tournament was all about family and community.
“I grew up without my [dad], and back at home we used to do this event, the father-son two-on-two tournament,” Keon said. “I never had the chance to play. When I got older I got the idea to host the event so that me and my son could play.”
Devin Davis is Keon's 10-year-old son.
“My favorite part was just playing a game of basketball with my dad,” Devin said.
The tournament, which was held on Saturday, June 20, at the Frank Brown Recreation Center in Auburn, drew fathers and sons from up to two hours away.
Mario Jackson and his son, 10-year-old Cameran Franklin, drove from Atlanta to participate in the event.
“We play basketball pretty regularly, but as far as a tournament, this is the first time we’ve done this,” Jackson said. “We had a great time. Great food, great people.”
Jackson said the tournament was tiring but fun.
“We’re a little winded, little tired,” Jackson said, laughing. “But we had a great time.”
Anthony Brock and his son, Shamori Brock, also competed in the event.
“This is our first time playing together in competition,” Brock said. “We shoot around at home and go to the gym and shoot around but this is our first time at a two-on-two father-son competition. Hopefully me and my son will develop some memories. Just compete and have fun, that’s what it’s all about.”
Keon said proceeds from the basketball tournament will go toward a school supply drive at Smooth ‘N Groove later this summer.
“We want one event to help the next event,” Keon said. “The event will be called Fill the Deck. We have a deck at our smoothie bar, so we want to get everybody to help donate school supplies. You can drive by and drop them onto the deck, and we’re going to try to fill the deck with school supplies.”
Keon said this is the first time the store has done a community event, but he plans to do more.
“We plan on doing [the basketball tournament] every year,” Davis said. “We’re going to do it every Father’s Day weekend. We’re going to do a lot more events too. We’re going to do kickball and different things to bring some fun to the community. We just want to bring the same atmosphere that we use at our store, the excitement, the friendly environment, we just want to bring it to other areas. We want to bring everyone together.”
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