Hoop dreams: FLY & STY basketball tournament returns to Columbus

COLUMBUS – Eighty youth basketball teams from around the Southeast will converge on Columbus this weekend for the second FLY & STY Hustle basketball tournament.

The event features around 10 area teams, representing Columbus, Noxubee County, Starkville and West Lowndes, as well as those from Louisiana and Tennessee, ranging in age from third-12th grade. Games are scheduled for both courts at MUW’s Pohl Gymnasium as well as the main gym, auxiliary gym and middle school gyms in New Hope and the middle and high school gyms in Caledonia.

Tournament co-organizer Shelly McElveen, who runs the FLY Girls basketball club, said this tournament, while important for those with dreams of playing at an NCAA level, is focused on more than just exposure for players.

“This is a great opportunity for Columbus and all surrounding areas,” McElveen said. “We’re looking at an influx of 3,500 people, and that (benefits) restaurants, hotels, just the economy itself. If anybody would like to come out and support, this is a major event and it’s only getting bigger.”

The tournament’s other organizer, Donel Briggs, who runs the Saving the Youth (STY) basketball program, said that while he believes travel – and, more importantly, exposure to other places – is key to helping young men develop, the benefits of having a local showcase are many. According to Briggs, Saving The Youth uses basketball as a tool to teach life skills and to benefit the community.

“It means a lot. I was always taught to raise the bar,” Briggs said. “And part of raising the bar means trying to show the city that we’re bringing in revenue to the city. We’ve been asking for a while for the city to come along with us on a multi-sport gym … which, in return, will make the city boom.”

McElveen’s FLY Girls organization, which was established in 2019, provides advanced coaching and participation opportunities for the girls involved, but it also provides opportunities for young players to make an impact in their community. McElveen said in the past year alone, FLY Girls served meals to the unhoused at both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and provided tutoring and ACT preparation services for FLY Girls participants.

McElveen said the tournament is a great way for basketball fans to come together and enjoy two days of high-caliber competition, but that its impact reaches well beyond the court.

“Basketball is bigger than just basketball,” McElveen said. “Basketball opens doors and provides opportunities with various networks that are unreachable in other ways. It provides connections, lifelong friendships and other adventures outside of basketball and even a possible opportunity for a free education. Whether it’s junior college, NAIA or Division I, basketball provides opportunities and it also allows our girls an outlet outside of school, outside of their daily routine, to build bonds and friendships that last a lifetime.”

Briggs echoed those thoughts in an interview with The Dispatch.

“Our organization is so much bigger than basketball,” Briggs said. “Basketball is just a strategy. Our mindset at STY is to help these young men survive.”

The tournament tips off at 6 p.m. Friday at New Hope High School with a meet and greet and two showcase games. Tournament play begins in earnest at 8 a.m. Saturday with doors opening at 7:30 a.m. at both the MUW and New Hope tournament sites. Single-day tickets are $20 while two-day passes are $35 and can be purchased at the door or online at https://basketball.exposureevents.com/229140/hustle-tournament.

Philip Poe is sports editor.