The largest single event we put on each year is the Basketball HOF Belfast Classic, an NCAA Division I tournament with eight teams that is broadcast nationwide in the US on CBS Sports. This event is the only NCAA tournament in Europe and is one of the biggest basketball tournaments Europe sees each year, and Sport Changes Life runs it. The work started early and often; months in advance we were selling tickets, organizing the attendance of youth groups and schools, and sorting out materials needed for the event. Naturally, as it grew nearer, the amount of work increased dramatically, leading into the crescendo that was the beginning of the tournament, where everyone was working from at least 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
I was on the operations team – we were responsible for anything backstage or on the floor (excluding entertainment). Sligo scholar Connor McClenaghan and I mostly worked together and were nonstop on our feet making sure the benches were prepared properly, the locker rooms were clean, restocked, reorganized, and labelled for each team. Our team as a whole was the “muscle” behind the event – we moved countless cases of beverages and snacks and bags of ice, and were primarily the force behind unloading and loading all of these items upon the start and finish of the week. Beyond being the muscle, we were cerebral as a team, communicating with walkie talkies and making everything efficient as possible, and sorting out problems as the arose without panicking or freezing in the moment.
The Belfast Classic was a success. The two best teams reached the final, where Buffalo defeated San Francisco by 4 points and were crowned champions. Many of the teams said that the event was one of the nicest and best-run they had ever played in, and want to return. As someone who was on the team that set mostly everything up for them, I was happy to hear their praise and my hard work was validated. I can only hope that the event continues to gain momentum and continue bringing high-quality basketball to the city of Belfast.
