BY FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ
In 2020, Tayon Ary-Turner of Seattle, Washington, enjoyed his one-week vacation at Hacienda Encantada, but said at the time, "I was on vacation right before COVID and decided to stay in this incredible place. I couldn’t find a gym to train my kids or even get them a place to shoot indoors. Although we ended up using an outdoor court, I realized the opportunity to bring an indoor gym to this incredible vacation destination was possible. I also thought how unique it would be for families not to have to use vacation time just to sit in a gym.
"I have run a successful basketball tournament business in the Seattle metro area since 2006 and one of the largest basketball academies in the Northern West Coast for 13 years, and so the Cabo Basketball Tournament was born," said Tayon.
"It is time to look at basketball in a new way," added Tayon. "We know parents are the number one fan in their child(ren)’s life. They sacrifice their personal time and finances. Cabo Basketball is a next-generation basketball tournament where parents can come on down and enjoy the beach and family time in Cabo. Enjoy competition with access to fun, sun, and outings. Stay in a first-class resort that is within walking distance from a custom-built court on the beach. Work on your tan while they work on their b-ball game.
"The Cabo Basketball Tournament is a resort and destination. Parents can reward themselves and their up-and-coming young athletes with games while enjoying the beach, sun, fun in a prized vacation destination. Let us help you leave commutes and traffic behind. Get into the things that excite you and your family," Tayon says in his https://cabobasketball.com website promoting his ingenious idea.
And what a wonderful tournament it was. The boys and girls basketball competition involved teams from Seattle, Washington; Compton, California; Arizona; and teams from Cabo San Lucas and La Paz. The games were played from July 24-July 31 and were held and hosted at Hacienda del Mar, which transformed their largest convention meeting rooms into a wood floor, air-conditioned, indoor basketball court.
Tayon Ary-Turner owns the hardwood floor. It was delivered cross country via big rig transportation trucks and the sections of floor were then pieced together by Tayon and his basketball court building crew.
The girls from La Paz and Cabo played as intense and passionate as their taller counterparts from Seattle and LA. Although they were on the losing end of the score, they loved playing and interacting with teams from America.
The boys’ games were competitive to the core, with the Wolves team of Cabo San Lucas winning an upset victory over the talented team from Seattle. Despite the height disadvantage the Wolves faced, they hustled and clawed and fought for every rebound and missed shot and won by 8 points in a game that shocked the Seattle players, coaches and fans. And while the tournament has since ended, it is really just beginning.
In 2022, Tayon Ary-Turner bought land for the basketball gym that he’s building right now here in Cabo. ''It's gonna get bigger and better,'' said his father. A hardwood floor basketball court is long overdue in Los Cabos. The big-name rich families have certainly never entertained the idea of building such a sports arena for the local community that could host regional and national basketball competition events.
And now a man from Seattle, WA with a vision is making it happen. And he has the pedigree, as founder and director of Elite Prep, which was the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest to help provide young male student-athletes with a platform to play against the nation’s best high school basketball programs while also securing a college scholarship. Elite Prep helped provide an academic course that not only improves the student athlete’s high school transcripts but also helped prepare them with the study habits necessary to be successful at the collegiate level.
Cobach High School in small-town Rosarito of Northern Baja located 20 minutes south of Tijuana has a wood floor air-conditioned gymnasium, and yet up until now, Los Cabos hasn't had anything like this and it was exciting to see the potential for such a facility. Stay tuned.
