THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 21, 1995 TAG: 9507210057
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MICHELLE MIZAL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 115 lines
INSTEAD OF SHOOTING each other, they're now shooting hoops.
``Go low! Go low!'' a Filipino boy in a yellow jersey shouted to a player who he would compete with later that day. Bold black tattoos of crosses or initials on the left arms of most of the young men in the Salem Middle School gym indicated that once they might have been rivals in gang fights.
Now, at the Filipino Basketball Tournaments, the court is their fighting ground.
``It's a different kind of violence,'' said Ron Gozum, 21, of Virginia Beach, team captain for one of the Filipino teams in the six-week-long tournament.
The tournament, which began on July 8 and will continue every Saturday until Aug. 12, was started in 1991 by Gil Cruz of Virginia Beach. Cruz organized the tournament in an effort to break up the growing number of Philippine gangs in Hampton Roads. He came up with the idea after Virginia Beach police held a meeting with Filipino leaders about the growing number of gangs.
Basketball seemed like the perfect outlet.
Cruz said that because many Filipinos are short, they have a disadvantage when joining basketball leagues. Participation in this league is limited to those with Filipino blood, but Cruz stressed that the Filipino-only rule is not racially motivated. The logic is that if Filipinos involved in gangs don't concentrate on something different, violence in their community will continue.
It was three years ago when Cruz, along with two other coordinators, Ponciano Guanlao of Norfolk and Jessie Deguia of Virginia Beach, began asking local businesses to support the players by donating money for uniforms and rent for the gym.
The results have been great. The bouncing ball has helped break up gang membership over the past four years. Sgt. Felipe Cabacoy of the Norfolk sheriff's office said about four Filipino gangs are in Virginia Beach now compared to the 20 to 25 reported in 1991.
After seeing the headlines relating to Filipino gangs in the newspaper, Cabacoy said was embarrassed. ``The Filipino community is supposed to be a tightknit community,'' said Cabacoy, who took the initiative to track the gangs and find ways to eliminate them.
Cabacoy believes the tournament contributes to the decrease in Filipino gangs. ``They need the sports activities . . . since Filipinos are athletic-minded anyway.''
Parents of players have also noticed the decrease in gangs.
Guanlao, who lives in Norfolk and has an 18-year-old son who plays on the Yellow Jackets, said many kids have told him that they hardly see any Filipino gangs.
He also said he doesn't see as much graffiti - perhaps also indicating the decrease in gang membership since gangs use graffiti to mark their territory.
Gozum is one who turned from gangs to hoops. He said he stopped hanging out with gangs three years ago after he got shot at a Virginia Beach party. Some members of a gang that was not invited did the shooting. Gozum was caught in the crossfire; a bullet pierced his right torso.
Gozum joined the league two years ago and now plays basketball every day.
``If they (gang members) get involved, they'll think more on the games instead of acting hard and looking for a fight,'' Gozum said.
Gozum believes that young boys join gangs because they want to be popular and want to belong to some sort of group. Gang members are groups of friends, he said, who just want to hang out. When trouble happens, they want to be ``bad boys.'' Many carry guns.
``They just want to be rough; that's how the gang life is,'' Gozum said. He encourages other local gang members to join the league and to keep on playing.
More than 300 players and fans packed the Salem gym on the first day of the tournament, which has grown from six teams to 28.
Those who join have a choice of three leagues. There's the ``pee-wee'' league in which players have to be 15 or younger; the ``open'' league (with no restrictions in age or height); and the ``5 feet, 9 inches-and-under'' league.
Because of the growing membership, the tournament has set higher goals for the near future.
On Aug. 12, the six best players from each league will represent Virginia at the Filipino Inter-city Basketball League of North America Championship in Ottawa, Canada on Labor Day weekend. A dozen different cities from the United States and Canada will compete.
So now these former gang members are concentrating on going Canada instead of going to jail.
Cielito Joseph Saxe, 20, of Virginia Beach, plays for the La Cernas in the 5-feet-9-and-under league. It is a relief for him. Being in a gang is too stressful, he said.
Saxe recalled gang members calling from his classroom door even if he was in the middle of class taking a test at San Sebastian College in Manila. ``There's no freedom. You have to be together all the time,'' he said.
Saxe recalled that trouble would sometimes erupt if one gang got mad at another gang. He said basketball is better because he doesn't have to worry about the other team getting mad.
Former gang members also say that playing basketball gives them a sense of belonging without the danger of getting killed.
Jerry Rojas, 21, who plays on Freddie's team, said he's tired of gangs. ``I just want real friends,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photos by BILL TIERNAN
The Virginia Beach Royals celebrate their victory over the Spartans
in the Filipino Basketball Tournament.
Former gang member Cielito Joseph Saxe, 20, of Virginia Beach, plays
for the Le Cernas in the 5-feet-and under league.
B\W photo
Virginia Beach's Gil Cruz, center with microphone, is the founder of
the Filipino Basketball Tournament. He organized the tournament to
break up the growing number of Philippine gangs in the area.
KEYWORDS: BASKETBALL GANG FILIPINO by CNB