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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
January 4, 2007     Shelton Mason County Journal
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January 4, 2007
 
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Hoop'happy? NO reservations about it Squaxin Tribe's big bash is popular as always By STEVE PATCH Mark Snyder's kids out at the rez are partly to blame, of course. Among other things, after all, they insist on calling him "Youth Director." Alas, that they succeeded in making him look the part this past week - did so despite increasingly pubescent distractions - seems only to have encouraged him to think he wasn't crazy after all for taking on the challenge in the first place. You know: of bringing togeth- er more than two dozen teams of teens and younger for three succes- sive dawn-to-midnight days of concen- trated togetherness known otherwise as the Squaxin Island Holiday Youth Basketball Tournament. "Yeah, and this is our 13th year of doing it," said Snyder, who's been director of the thing since its inception and the tribe's "Mis- ter Recreation" going on 16 years now. OH, SURE, there have been moments of clarity along the way, assured the director. Like the time a couple years ago when no fewer than 36 teams were entered in the three-day affair. That's fully eight more than last week's count. "I'll never do that again!" Snyder pretended to bluster. He laughed. "Plus it was a three-game guaran- 'You know, the hormones are flowin', and the boys are seein' girls from this rez and the girls are seein' boys from that rez...' tee. Now, you tell me: How stupid was that?" He loosed another chortle. "I'm tellin' ya!" he said. "I wasn't right for about a week after that." AND SO IT was that the vet- eran director was openly tickled by how well things came off this time around, even with the still- impressive guest list and the mar- athon schedule that saw action in the Squaxins' huge cedar gym run each day from literally 9 in the morning to 11:30 at night. "It was great," said Snyder, i whose own kids did "the beat that we've done in quite a while," with' a second-place finish in the tourney's 16-and-under coed divi- sion, a second in the 8-and-under fray, thirds in both the 15-and-un- der boys' and 10-and-under girls' brackets and a fourth in the 13- and-under girls' division. "And, you know, what's really cool about it is that there's, like, cousins that these kids don't get to see, you know, cuz they live a ways away. "And then also, you know, the hormones are flowin', and the boys are seein' girls from this rez and the girls are seein' boys from that rez, so it's a good lil' social atmo- sphere." AND NO TROUBLE? "Ohh! No," said Snyder. "We don't have any incidents like that. I mean, the kids are all well be- haved. The Nespelem team espe- cially is just nuthin' but a class act." That the visitors were so ex- emplary in that regard is particu- larly amazing when you consider the disadvantage in which they'd tbund themselves, inadvertently. "Their coach misread my flyer," said Snyder. "He thought it was 12-and-under girls. So he brought 11- and 12-year-olds and put 'em in the 13-and-under bracket." Nespelem's little overachiev- ers wound up taking second place. "That guy is an amazing coach," said Snyder. "He has l l- and ]2- (Please turn to page 27.) SIDELINE DISTRACTIONS NOTWITHSTANDING, the focus is on hardcourt fun last week as the Squaxin Island Tribe hosts its yearly hoop tournament. That's the hosts' Alex Rivera more or less submitting to teammate Victoria Sanchez' hairkeeping ministrations during a brief benchriding stint in their second- round game Thursday morning, and peeking out beneath the Gatorade is teammate Tasheena Sanchez. Inset from the top, the visiting Skokomish girls' Kayla Edwards grabs for a loose one between teammate (and sister) Margrite Smith (left) and the hosts' Alyssa Cervantes; a successful put-hack shot brightens Page 26 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, January 4, 2007 the face of visiting hoopster Donovan Ward of LaPush; a under game gets swallowed up by the hosts' vast wooden LaPush guard Gary Jackson slips inside teammate Ward for bucket between games; our well groomed friend Alex muscld away a rebound as the Skoks' Kara Nichols (left) and an unide I tiffed pickup player known only as Sarah look on behind her, an boys' teammate Ray Pruneda offers a wordless assessment oJ behalf of fellow player Harry Allen. The bright-eyed young lad.' charming the concession-stand workers, near? Why, tourne: director Mark Snyder's 6-year-old daughter, Laura, of course. Hoop'happy? NO reservations about it Squaxin Tribe's big bash is popular as always By STEVE PATCH Mark Snyder's kids out at the rez are partly to blame, of course. Among other things, after all, they insist on calling him "Youth Director." Alas, that they succeeded in making him look the part this past week - did so despite increasingly pubescent distractions - seems only to have encouraged him to think he wasn't crazy after all for taking on the challenge in the first place. You know: of bringing togeth- er more than two dozen teams of teens and younger for three succes- sive dawn-to-midnight days of concen- trated togetherness known otherwise as the Squaxin Island Holiday Youth Basketball Tournament. "Yeah, and this is our 13th year of doing it," said Snyder, who's been director of the thing since its inception and the tribe's "Mis- ter Recreation" going on 16 years now. OH, SURE, there have been moments of clarity along the way, assured the director. Like the time a couple years ago when no fewer than 36 teams were entered in the three-day affair. That's fully eight more than last week's count. "I'll never do that again!" Snyder pretended to bluster. He laughed. "Plus it was a three-game guaran- 'You know, the hormones are flowin', and the boys are seein' girls from this rez and the girls are seein' boys from that rez...' tee. Now, you tell me: How stupid was that?" He loosed another chortle. "I'm tellin' ya!" he said. "I wasn't right for about a week after that." AND SO IT was that the vet- eran director was openly tickled by how well things came off this time around, even with the still- impressive guest list and the mar- athon schedule that saw action in the Squaxins' huge cedar gym run each day from literally 9 in the morning to 11:30 at night. "It was great," said Snyder, i whose own kids did "the beat that we've done in quite a while," with' a second-place finish in the tourney's 16-and-under coed divi- sion, a second in the 8-and-under fray, thirds in both the 15-and-un- der boys' and 10-and-under girls' brackets and a fourth in the 13- and-under girls' division. "And, you know, what's really cool about it is that there's, like, cousins that these kids don't get to see, you know, cuz they live a ways away. "And then also, you know, the hormones are flowin', and the boys are seein' girls from this rez and the girls are seein' boys from that rez, so it's a good lil' social atmo- sphere." AND NO TROUBLE? "Ohh! No," said Snyder. "We don't have any incidents like that. I mean, the kids are all well be- haved. The Nespelem team espe- cially is just nuthin' but a class act." That the visitors were so ex- emplary in that regard is particu- larly amazing when you consider the disadvantage in which they'd tbund themselves, inadvertently. "Their coach misread my flyer," said Snyder. "He thought it was 12-and-under girls. So he brought 11- and 12-year-olds and put 'em in the 13-and-under bracket." Nespelem's little overachiev- ers wound up taking second place. "That guy is an amazing coach," said Snyder. "He has l l- and ]2- (Please turn to page 27.) SIDELINE DISTRACTIONS NOTWITHSTANDING, the focus is on hardcourt fun last week as the Squaxin Island Tribe hosts its yearly hoop tournament. That's the hosts' Alex Rivera more or less submitting to teammate Victoria Sanchez' hairkeeping ministrations during a brief benchriding stint in their second- round game Thursday morning, and peeking out beneath the Gatorade is teammate Tasheena Sanchez. Inset from the top, the visiting Skokomish girls' Kayla Edwards grabs for a loose one between teammate (and sister) Margrite Smith (left) and the hosts' Alyssa Cervantes; a successful put-hack shot brightens Page 26 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, January 4, 2007 the face of visiting hoopster Donovan Ward of LaPush; a under game gets swallowed up by the hosts' vast wooden LaPush guard Gary Jackson slips inside teammate Ward for bucket between games; our well groomed friend Alex muscld away a rebound as the Skoks' Kara Nichols (left) and an unide I tiffed pickup player known only as Sarah look on behind her, an boys' teammate Ray Pruneda offers a wordless assessment oJ behalf of fellow player Harry Allen. The bright-eyed young lad.' charming the concession-stand workers, near? Why, tourne: director Mark Snyder's 6-year-old daughter, Laura, of course.