MANNHEIM, Germany - Heidelberg boys basketball team and the Lions cheer squad are the best in Europe, titles they decidedly earned Saturday at the end of four days of games held in Mannheim and Heidelberg for the Department of Defense Dependents Schools Europe Tournament of Champions.
The event marks the end of Mannheim's involvement in the tournament. Another community will host the games next year when the Mannheim garrison closes in May.
Mannheim took home the 2011 Spirit Award in cheerleading, a fitting and timely recognition.
"All of our community members and especially our students, have shown a tremendous sense of pride in Mannheim which has given the tournament an incredible energy for years," said U.S. Army Garrison Mannheim Commander Lt. Col. Lisa Griffin.
The DODDS Europe event that welcomed 1,089 athletes and coaches among 64 basketball teams and 26 cheerleading teams has always been in Mannheim, said Brad Seadore, tournament administrator."One way or another Mannheim has always been used as one of the venues," for the basketball championships Seadore said. 'Mannheim has always been extraordinarily supportive of DODDS."
Mannheim rolled out the carpet for DODDS.
"The Mannheim community loves to support events such as this," Griffin said. "Our sports director staff are experts at basketball and have a real passion for supporting our youth."
"When we get together, it comes together," said Theodus Green, Mannheim director of sports and fitness about the many directorates involved in getting the event off the ground.
"The answer is never 'no' it's always 'yes' so that we can do this thing for DODDS," he said.
Mannheim's gymnasiums at Coleman and Sullivan Barracks hosted the games, and Heidelberg's Patton Barracks and Heidelberg High School also hosted games Wednesday through Friday.
But it was in the Sports Arena that all six championship games were played.
"What you're standing in today is so much nicer than it was in the '60s," said Armed Forces Network Deputy Director Mark Vagnerini. "Few facilities are as well-maintained as this one."
Vagnerini should know.
He graduated from Mannheim High School in 1973 and the sports arena wasn't there at the time.
It seems everyone has a Mannheim Sports Arena story.
Seadore remembers that Shaquille O'Neal played on the court.
That would have been 1985 when he was 13 years old and attended Fulda High School.
He attended a basketball clinic and met Louisiana State University coach Dale Brown who recruited Shaq to eventually play at the college .
Janis Ready, a facilities director for the 2011 tournament and former Lakenheath High School girls coach remembers Trinity Bursey who played for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill until last spring.
Bursey led Lakenheath to the European championship in 2004 in Mannheim.
Even the Seadores have a history here that goes beyond sports.
DODDS Europe Athletic Director Karen Seadore and Brad met in Mannheim and married while here. Each of them coached three Mannheim high school sports teams.
But even when the Seadores moved to Wiesbaden so Karen could accept the DODDS Europe Athletic Director position, their time in Mannheim didn't come to an end.
They have returned time and again for the DODDS European tournament.
"Mannheim has always been a community for us," Brad said.
The DODDS Europe tournament also includes the cheerleading competition. Seadore remarked that the cheer competition actually outgrew the sports arena and moved to the MSW Halle am Herzogenried in Mannheim.
"It started with 15 teams and is up to 26 now," Seadore said, adding that spectator interest contributed to the move. When cheer routines added dance and gymnastics, more fans attended.
Next year Mannheim will takes its place alongside those schools listed in the event program that have closed, the year in parentheses: "closed in 2011."
But for those who've been here, it's much more than a footnote.
"This last tournament marks the end of an era" Griffin said.
"We will always appreciate the great facilities in Mannheim and the people - the students, the Soldiers, the staff and families - who brought life and spirit to the events held here," said USAG Baden-Wuerttemberg Commander Col. Bill Butcher.
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