OKMULGEE, Okla.- The 2023 Native All-State high school basketball game was held at the Claude Cox Omniplex in Okmulgee on June 10.
The event started with the presentation of the colors with the men’s honor guard from Muscogee (Creek) Nation. They presented the flag song and ended with the national anthem before moving forward to the girl’s basketball game.
The event is for Native high school senior basketball players. They feature a boys and girls team. Players come together from different tribes within Oklahoma.
Players are specifically chosen to participate in the game. This allows them to show off their agility to prospective recruiters.
Pat Moore hosts the games. He is involved in the selection process, alongside Chad Tsotigh. Moore chose the uniforms, and even picked last year’s Native All-State basketball jerseys as well.
According to Muscogee (Creek) Nation Program Development Supervisor Brigham Bert (Wichita), Moore has worked at Jones Academy for a couple of years as the head of the Oklahoma Native All-State program.
The event is an excellent opportunity for players that still need to sign on to a collegiate team. It can help them get recognition for recruitment from the Native college coaches that may have attended the game.
“The exposure is mostly going to come from the Native colleges because it’s an Oklahoma Native All-State game,” Bert said.”The coaches will be watching this game. Just to see and talk to who catches their eye and maybe who hasn’t signed with a college next year. Maybe they can get picked up late by one of those coaches from Bacone, Haskell or any of those similar colleges”
The boys and girls are divided by east and west residential locations. Typically if there are not enough players for both teams, they are split up accordingly to balance the rosters.
“There’s 13 and 13 for both boys and girls, so total 26 all together,” Bert said. He served as a referee for both the boy’s and girl’s games.
Bert has been playing basketball since he was five years old.
“I have a lot of buddies that have been playing that I’ve met,” Bert said. “They actually started finishing up whenever I started playing, because I started playing as an adult whenever I was around like 15 years old.”
Bert has traveled in different states and played in several national tournaments similar to the Native All-State basketball game. He has not taken for granted the opportunities to play a sport he is passionate about. He is thankful for where basketball has taken him in his career.
“I want to say reservation wise, being blessed to travel and play,” Bert said.
According to Bert, in the past Native basketball players from different tribal reservations would come together to play against one another in various tournaments. Back then the tournaments focused on competition over money.
“That was really how they determined you know who had the better ball players, but now it’s a little different,” Bert said. “Now people really just get sponsorship and they get the best players they can find and basically stack their teams and fly to New York or Red Lake Minnesota, it’s all for the money.”
Bert oversees these tournaments and has even helped train some of the players. He does not charge the students for the help he provides.
Over the years Bert has refereed many Native tournaments and has met many students along the way. He has watched quite a few of them grow up throughout his career.
Soon, Bert wants to start a Mvskoke team for Native youth around the reservation. He was concerned because not all Native students have the opportunity to participate in sports programs because they are unable to afford it.
“Kids can struggle if they don’t have programs or sports teams to do, it keeps them occupied and there are good programs for them to be in,” Bert said.
“I mean it’s really rewarding just even being here to open up a gym for them to come in, whether it be lifting or running or playing basketball,” Bert said. “You know this is kind of their getaway, so when they get here I kind of let them you know get as loud as they want to and to really get it out of them.”
Bert has a great connection with the students he has helped in the past and those he is helping currently. He gives them motivation and cares for their well-being.
For those that would like to learn more about the Native All-State program, updates and information can be found on their Facebook page.
