Northwest Navy Life - Example Publication

6 | FEBRUARY 6, 2015 NORTHWEST NAVY LIFE | KITSAP
NWNAVYLIFE.COM
SOWA tournament supported by volunteer sailors
ByDOUGLASH.STUTZ
NHBPUBLICAFFAIRS
The competition, camaraderie,
and caliber
of play at this year’s Special
Olympics Washington
(SOWA) 2015 region winterbasketballtournament,
Jan. 31, made a believer
outofSeamanMayeleMapanda.
Mapanda knows the
game of basketball. The
Oakland, Calif. native
played for Fresno City
College and Cal State East
Bay before enlisting in the
Navy and being assigned
at Naval Hospital Bremerton.
Mapanda, along with 40
other NHB staff members
volunteered in a variety of
ways at the tournament.
He came away impressed,
inspired and pleasantly
surprised at the combined
energy and enthusiasm of
the numerous teams competing
in the Kitsap SUN
Pavilion.
“I wasn’t really sure
whattoexpect.Thistournamentisgreat.It’spure
basketball. The teamwork
is incredible. The talent
levelisrealandit’seasyto
seethattheseplayersare
having a lot of fun. No one
on these teams has any individual
goals. They’re all
about the team and helpingothers,justlikeweare
intheNavy,”saidMapanda.
The tournament has
growninpopularityfrom
65 teams in 2009 to 91 this
year, with approximately
1,000 athletes participating
at four locations,
with the Kitsap County
Fairgrounds SUN Pavilionthemainvenuesite.As
they have done in the past,
NHB’s Color Guard presentedthecolorstocommence
the official start of
the tournament and several
stuck around afterwardstoalsohelpoutas
volunteers
“The military involvement
from Naval Hospitalisawesome.Tohaveso
many volunteers all here
going out of their way to
help others is just tremendous.
They’re all doing
it for these teams,” said
Stephanie Blotzer, Kiwanis
Club member and event
volunteer coordinator.
Thetournamentfeatured
basketball programs from
BKAT (Bremerton Kitsap
Athletic Team), Clallam
County, Clark County,
Eatonville, Gig Harbor,
Grays Harbor, JBLM
(Joint Base Lewis Mc-
Cord), Jefferson County,
Lewis County, Longview/
Kelso, Metro Parks (Tacoma),
PCFA (Pierce County
Friends and Athletes),
Puyallup, Shelton, South
Kitsap, Sound Athletics,
Spanaway, Sumner/BonneyLake,ThurstonCounty,
University Place and
Vancouver (Wash.).
Six local Kiwanis chapters
have for years taken
on the volunteer duty
of helping to coordinate
andorchestratetheevent
and any assistance they
can get is always appreciative.
When they heard
that NHB would also be
volunteering again, they
knew that such tasks as
scorekeeping, time-keeping,
lunch management for
the teams, presentation of
medals to players and oth-
DOUGLASH.STUTZ
Fromscorekeepingtotimeclockmanagement,toanyothertaskneeded,40NavalHospital
BremertonstaffmembersdonatetheirtimeandenthusiasmattheSpecialOlympicstournament.
erchoreswouldbeinreliable
hands.
“Cominghereanddoing
this tournament is my best
dayoftheyear.It’sbetter
than Christmas,” said Bev
Luckey-Short, of Kiwanis
Club of Bremerton. “Compassion
and service is
whatKiwanisisallabout
and that also goes with
whatweseefromthehospital
sailors who have for
years helped us out here.
We couldn’t do it without
such support.”
Besides the full-court
games, there was alsoaskillscompetitionas
teams had the ability to
showcase their passing
and shooting ability. Regardless
of the outcome either
on the court or in the
skills competition, the final
score was secondary
to the lasting smiles.
The tournament is a
qualifying round for the
state winter games tournament,
which will be
held in Wenatchee, Feb. 27
toMarch1.Allthosewho
wonagoldmedalareeligible
to compete at the
state level.
PANEL|FROM3
benefits and commissary
subsidies and efforts to
impose slight increases
in out-of-pocket costs for
TRICARE.
Butasbudgetwoesgrow,
some lawmakers may
be more open to limited
changes.
Recently, Sen. Lindsey
Graham, R-S.C., told militaryleadersduringahearing
of the Senate Armed
Services Committee that
“we need to look at reforming
pay and benefits,
be generous but sustainable.”
Thethreeservicechiefs
agreed.
“If we don’t, regardless
of sequestration, we would
have to take significant
cuts in our capacity,” Gen.
Raymond Odierno, chief
ofstaffoftheArmy,told
Graham.
Other panel recommendations
touch on a number
of benefits, ranging from
child care and commissaries
to education programs.
The panel recommends
merging the office and
some management activities
for base commissaries
and exchanges that could
bring some property savings
over time. And it also
recommends giving military
leaders the authority
to use funding to add child
care facilities and staff
where needed.
Thebulkofthecostsavings
over the next four
years would come from
the TRICARE changes, officials
said.