Cameron Chamber Christmas Classic set for next week

If you’re a fan of holiday hoops, you’re in luck. Cameron’s annual Chamber of Commerce Christmas Classic basketball tournament will be taking place next Thursday, December 28 and Friday, December 29.

This is one of the premier tournaments in Central Texas year in and year out, as a total of 12 boys teams and 12 girls teams from across the state will be traveling to Cameron for basketball action.

“It is a very exciting time, as there is not much going on during that week with the break from Christmas to New Year's,” said chamber vice president Mark Stroud. “It is really a one of kind tournament in that Cameron ISD has three full size gyms in the School District. All teams entered play at least 3 games during the tournament. It give teams a chance to work off the Christmas rust from not practicing to not having games scheduled for a period of time. It gets the boys teams ready for district play and let the girls teams play some games before resuming district play.”

The tournament does feature a lot of great basketball, but it also helps the chamber raise funds while generating exposure for the school district.

“The tournament benefits the chamber by promoting Cameron and Cameron ISD with the facilities that are part of the School District. The entry fees and program advertising let the chamber generate some income to be used to support and promote our business in Cameron, TX”, said Stroud.

The ones that benefit the most are the existing businesses, which are expected to see lots of traffic over the two days of play.

“With 22 teams coming from different towns, that will bring parents and relatives to Cameron that go to different eating places in town,” Stroud said. “Spending money generates sales tax for the City. Depending when their teams play and how late the teams play, people will at least eat lunch or lunch and supper here in Cameron. Some might even eat breakfast. There might be some people that do some shopping while waiting for the next game to begin.”

The Teams

Girls

Pool A: Cameron, Florence, Austin Lanier

Pool B: Austin Crockett, Iola, West

Pool C: Holland, McGregor, Austin Travis

Pool D: Buffalo, Rosebud-Lott, Snook

The girls division features a variety of teams from across the area, a few from the Austin area, and even defending state finalist Buffalo. Cameron will play their pool games at 11:30 (Florence) and 5:30 (Lanier).

Boys

Pool A: Cameron, Snook, McGregor

Pool B: Giddings, Taylor, Marble Falls

Pool C: Academy, Smithville, Holland

Pool D: Rockdale, Shoemaker JV, Whitney

For the boys, defending champ Marble Falls will be returning, as will Snook, who finished runner up in 2016. Rockdale is returning after a one-year absence. Cameron will play their pool games at 1:00 (Snook) and 7:00 (McGregor).

To note, the two Australian teams that participated in the tournament are planning on returning in 2018. Those teams only travel to the United States every other year, and plan to have Cameron back on their list of stops.

“The Australia team will be coming back in 2018 to play in the Chamber Basketball Classic,” said Stroud. “They are already preparing to come to Cameron. They really enjoyed playing in our tournament in 2016. They are wanting to put on a clinic a day before the tournament begins and invite all basketball Coaches in the surrounding area to attend.”

Student 2-day passes will be $8.00 while 1-day passes are $6.00. Adult 2-day passes are $12.00 with 1-day passes set at $8.00. There will be no type of passes accepted at this tournament. The girls championship game will take place at 5:00 pm with the boys to follow at 7:00 pm on Friday.