As you can see by the smiles on everyone’s faces and the gold medal around their, the Towers run at back to back National Championships was an absolute success.  Don’t let all that shiny gold mask or hide the hard work and many hours of practice these guys put together in the last year.  They say winners know how to win, but they also say winners know how to work, the Towers are a prime example.

The Towers had a few new faces in their lineup in Anaheim and on the other hand were missing several key members from the Towers family who couldn’t make the trip due to prior engagement related to work and school.  One very important member, Coach Pat, had to stay back home to take care of some college requirements and so we figured out a very techy way of getting him into the mix….

Modern Technology is amazing! We were able to keep coach Pat on site through Skype and he was able to watch the entire championship game and give us a pre-game speech. Talk about dedication.  The guys listened intently and went out and played their hardest.  It was a long day of battling, after 6 hours and 4 intense games, the Towers came away with gold in Anaheim to grab their second and back2back DAAA National Championship.

Here are some great pictures from this day

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March 18th, 2011

On a beautiful night in March, a rescheduled game for the Towers at Commack High School turned out to be a great one.  The game originally set for early January was foiled by a Nor’easter, one of many that ravaged the New York area this winter.  With the sun shining outside, the stars came out inside the Commack Gym, as the New York Towers took on a group of athletes and teachers from Commack High School.  Towers forward Teddy Tilkin, a Sophomore at Commack, brought this game to light and all of his friends and peers came out to support.  With the wonderful teamwork of the Commack PTA, and Commack’s Athletic Director Jeremy Thode, the Towers were able to bring their message to the Commack Cougars.  General Manager of the Towers, Clinton Brown spoke before the game about believing in your dreams and using determination and a positive attitude to reach your goals in life.

The Towers played in front of their largest crowd of the year, with over 200 fannies in the seats to watch them play.  Family and friends from both sides came out to support and it was great to see folks who traveled from as far as central Connecticut and western Pennsylvania come out to see their beloved Towers Inspire – Motive – and Educate.

This game marked the Towers first ever against a high school and officially kicks off the Beyond The Rim theme that they’re looking to continue.  Beyond The Rim is the idea behind their community awareness campaign where that the Towers will use basketball as the vehicle to educate young people about people with Dwarfism.  The positive effects were seen immediately following the game in Commack as students and parents from the school came up to all the players and voiced their excitement about what we brought to the gym on this night.  Members of the PTA spoke to us after the game about making this event bigger and better next year, and possibly integrating it with Disability Awareness Week at the school, which would be a terrific idea.

From a basketball stand point, the Towers were truly a tale of two halves.  They ended the first half down 6 points to Commack and had trouble defending.  After regrouping at halftime, coach Fava, got his boys back into the flow of things and back to where they left off against the Long Island Lions.  Team chemistry came back in the second half and everyone on the roster seized an opportunity on offense to knock down buckets.

It was great to see new faces sporting their Inspire – Motive – Educate Tshirts and Wristbands as they walked out of the gym with a new view of the world.  The Towers were proud to link up with such a great group of people at Commack high school and look forward to working on making this an annual event.

a great compilation of photo’s taken by an amazing up and coming talent.  Maija Tammi is internationally acclaimed for her work has joined up with two of the New York Towers, to capture their heart, dedication, and love of the game.  Working with Maija has been a pleasure and we look forward to working more with her over the next 4 months of this project.

To see more of Maija’s work feel free to visit her page http://www.maijatammi.com/

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After winning their first DAAA national championship, the Towers and their fans were running sky high with emotions.  Feeling great from being able to accomplish their year end goal after a lot of hard work and practice time over the last 12 months.

The Towers embarked on a brand new journey after Nashville…one they would call Beyond The Rim.  The name of their new awareness event they would bring to five different schools over the course of the on coming school year.  The Towers found a great way to introduce Little People, individuals with disabilities, and put a different spin on anti-bullying tactics all by bringing their message to the court and to the classroom.  The students couldn’t stop talking about us when we left, the teachers built lessons around it, and administrators put on great fundraisers for their PTA’s.

After a very successful debut season of the Beyond The Rim experience, the Towers win loss record on the court finished at 3 wins, 2 losses vs opponents comprised of students, faculty, and PTA members of each of the schools they played.  We’d like to thank the New York Wizards, Manhattanville College, Long Island Lions, Commack High School, and Ward-Melville High School for believing in our event and seeing it through to the end.

The Towers also want to send out their biggest thank you of all to all their family and friends who came to the games, supported to the team, made banners, took tickets, sold t-shirts, and pitched in to make it a real family event.  Without them, none of these games and events would have been possible and nearly as successful as they were.

Check out and read Anaheim 2011 Back2Back to see how the Towers faired in their run to defend their National Championship.

Follow the NY Towers on Youtube at Clint’s YouTube Channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/islanders3?feature=mhum

Also check out our 2010 Championship Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDsj_Epv0Oc

Kevin Maher covers the NY Towers and the Beyond The Rim tour in 2010 at their game against Manhattanville College

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTz1eazcWww

Thanks to the great work of Jesse Bull, we were able to capture the spirit of the NY Towers Basketball Program at our first ever non DAAA game.  Click the link below and thank you for taking the time to see what the Towers are all about.

http://www.vimeo.com/17148434

Justin Rickert #21

Birthdate:  February 17, 1981        Hometown: Shamokin, PA               School: Penn State University

Position:   Forward                        Height: 4’10″                                  Weight: 130

A new addition to the Towers towards the end of 2010, Justin can play any of the forward positions.  His height and shooting ability make him a “dirk nowitzski” type player who can handle the low post and hit from the outside as well.  Justin comes from a basketball family, his father is a high school basketball coach, and his sister played four years in college.  The Towers welcome Justin to the team and look forward to his contributions.

Check out the NY Towers feature article in a Portuguese Newspaper, ionline.com

http://www.ionline.pt/conteudo/92850-ny-towers-o-tamanho-afinal-nao-interessa-nada

Click here to go to the Towers’ Official Shutterfly Page to see pics from many of our events

http://nytowers.shutterfly.com/