On July 11, 2024, Southern California-based TeamSnap volunteers arrived at the massive, 89,000 square foot Pechanga Recreation Center in Temecula, California, to lend their hands to the Inter Tribal Sports (ITS) Summer Basketball Tournament.

This annual event brings together more than 500 youth basketball players, aged 8 to 18, to compete, with an eye on the championships, slated for the end of the month. A-, B- and C-League teams traveled from reservations as far south as the Kumeyaay Nation, in San Diego county and Baja, California, to Santa Rosa Reservation in Riverside County.

ITS introduced basketball programming in 2003. Luther Salgado Jr. of the Cahuilla Nation was part of that first year of basketball players. Now, he coaches Cahuilla basketball, soccer and football teams through ITS – including not only his own kids, but a network of nephews and cousins. He also serves on the ITS General Board of Directors.

“I do it all,” he laughs. For Salgado, it’s clear that ITS is bigger than basketball, or whatever sport is in season. “ITS is seen as an outlet,” he says. “For some kids, they have nowhere to go after school. They’re becoming part of a team, which is a family outside of their family.”

Jolene Majel, a coach as well as a board member from the Pauma Nation, says ITS is imperative for her community, for providing low-cost or cost-free opportunities for sport. “Some reservations don’t have the same resources as others,” she says. “It puts everybody on an equal playing field and playing the game that they love.”

TeamSnap volunteers managed the scoreboards, kept stats, and even refereed the younger teams. TeamSnap Impact also joined ITS in Lake Arrowhead, California, the following day to learn more about the traditional game of Peon.

Jasmine Velasquez from ITS (far right) with TeamSnap Impact volunteers.

““It was so uplifting … to be around this energy,” says Lizeth Aparicio, a senior customer success manager at TeamSnap. “Gotta give a huge shout out to Jasmine at ITS who was so kind and patient enough to teach me the ropes on scorekeeping, the meaning behind the traditional Peon game and her why behind the incredible work that she does for this nonprofit.”

Learn more about TeamSnap Impact – and how sports can make a difference in the lives of kids everywhere.