Oaxaca basketball tradition finds a Minnesota home
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When Agustin Feria emigrated from Oaxaca, Mexico, to Austin, Minn., it was his love of basketball, not soccer, he brought with him.
Through a translator, Feria explains that in Oaxaca, while the locals share the Mexican fervor for the ‘beautiful game,’ it’s basketball you see people playing at the parks, in the schools and everywhere in between.
This tradition now has a home in Austin, as the city gears up for its annual Oaxaca Basketball Tournament.
This weekend, 22 amateur teams from Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin will descend on this southeastern community of 26,000 to battle it out on the courts, eat and dance together.
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Most of those teams have ties to Oaxaca, said Feria, who started a much smaller version of the tournament nearly three decades ago.
“In 1996, about 10 of us arrived here and we got together with others from Guerrero, from Michoacán and we formed four teams to play in what we called a mini tournament,” he said through a translator. “We had fun for two or three years and when a lot of people started to arrive, we started to form more teams — 10, 15 teams.”
And it’s not just basketball that draws the crowds. The event coincides with an annual celebration in honor of Santa Maria Magdalena.
There’s a special mass held at a nearby church, a processional, traditional dances, food and more, said Feria. And, he said, the tournament also serves as a fundraiser.
“Sometimes we hold tournaments and reward the teams but the little money that we gather is for supporting building churches or school events,” back in Oaxaca, he said.
On a steamy July evening, Ruben Reyes, 33, is at the courts in a bright yellow uniform to practice with his team “The Juniors.”
He immigrated to Austin in 2007, and said playing basketball was a huge part of his childhood in Oaxaca.
“It is fun because many children go down to the event and begin to love sports and do not turn to vices,” he said through a translator. “Basketball brings me very good things, if I had made another decision, perhaps I would not be here.”
He hopes that the money raised at these events helps a kid just like him back in Oaxaca.
Today, Reyes said playing basketball, and the festivities around the annual tournament, help him stay connected to his childhood memories, and the culture in which he grew up.
But he said it’s also been a cultural bridge in this diverse community, where the meat-packing industry draws immigrants from Mexico, South Sudan, Micronesia and Myanmar.
“It is something very nice because over the years that we have been doing these events, we see people who come from different places. And they also do events and invite us,” he said. “They even started calling this park ‘The Park of Oaxaca’ because they witness how people spend their time in a healthy way.”
So does Reyes expect his team will win this weekend?
“Posiblemente,” he said. Possibly.
If you want to enjoy the festivities this weekend, events start at 8 a.m. at Rotary/Centennial Park in Austin, and continue on Sunday.
MPR News assistant digital producer Nicole Johnson contributed to this report.
