MANCHESTER, NH โ There is always a good turnout for the annual summer Nick Carey 3v3 Basketball Tournament and, yes, it’s because kids love playing the game. But basketball has been more than a game for a generation of kids who continue to find common ground through the sport.
The tournament was started by Jim Terrero who again partnered with Deo Mwano to host the event this year at Sheridan-Emmet Park. It’s more like the old stomping ground for Terrero and Mwano, who grew up in this ethnically diverse section of the city, both sons of immigrants who found themselves together as ELL students at Beech Street School two decades ago.
Terrero came to Manchester with his family from the Dominican Republic and Mwano, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Both have grown into men who live their passion for giving back โ initially, during their college years when they worked for the BRING IT! afterschool program (Bringing Refugees, Immigrants and Neighbors Gently Into Tomorrow), which continues to run out of Hillside Middle School.
Terrero went on to become the city’s first Hispanic firefighter and Mwano is founder of Deo Mwano Consultancy,ย where he has created a unique service that provides motivational speaking and multi-media projects to businesses and community groups as a way to help bridge the gaps of understanding that persist in a community that has always struggled to find unity in its differences.
On July 9 the kids came โ as did many of the parents โ under a big, blue sky to watch as mentors led the way. There is some video footage at the top of this story that captures the day. There was also music and dancing, friendly but determined competition, and a sense of community and continuity around an event that means so much to so many.
Most of all, perhaps, to Terrero, who renamed the annual tournament in honor of his friend Nick Carey after his death in 2016.
Carey loved being out on the courts talking to the kids and was a regular at the annual tournament. He followed his calling and became a teacher, earning his degree in elementary education from SNHU in 2014, and through the Center for Community Engaged Learning spent a life-changing winter break in South Africa, helping to rehabilitate homes learning more about the culture and the universal language of kids, which is fun.
He went on to work at Beech Street School and served as Assistant Coordinator for the Salvation Army’s Kids’ Cafe as well as helping out with Teen Night.
Saturday’s tournament is one way Terrero and Mwano can pay forward what they have gained from those who came before them, the men and women who invested their own time and talent in kids who were just learning how to navigate a new community, like when they were kids.
And it’s one way to remember a good man whose own legacy of love can community spirit lives on through their efforts.