TQL 3-On-3 Tourney Gets National Twist For 2015

Somebody go find Kurtis Blow; they’re playing basketball at Total Quality Logistics.

Registration for the annual TQL 3-on-3 employee basketball tournament opened March 30; enter your three- or four-person team (one sub is allowed on each squad).

Change is afoot for the 2015 tourney. For the first time, teams representing satellite offices will square off against their Greater Cincinnati counterparts.

Teams from Jacksonville, Charleston, Lexington, Detroit, Louisville and Pittsburgh already registered.

The tournament adds another national touch by benefitting Layups for Lauren and The Cure Starts Now Foundation. TQL offices around the country took the Layups for Lauren Challenge last fall in support of Lauren Hill, who made headlines playing hoops for Mount St. Joseph while fighting a rare and terminal brain cancer.

TQL will sell Lauren’s “#22 Never Give Up” wristbands for $10 each starting May 1. (Buyers receive a casual pass with their purchase.) There will be a check presentation to The Cure Starts Now Foundation prior to the tournament finals.

Opening the field to satellite teams meant condensing the previous six-week tournament window into a frenetic week of nightly play. The double-elimination bracket tips off at 15-minute intervals May 19 and culminates with the finals May 22 during a patio party at Ivy Pointe headquarters.

“We’re a very competitive organization and this tournament just speaks to who we are,” said Diona M., events planner. “We have a lot of sports guys who played in college and were pretty good. They want to win. They play hard.”

With good reason. The winning team takes home a $1,250 first prize, while the runners-up earn $500. There’s also a $250 prize available to an employee for sinking a half-court shot.

“Taking it national and letting the satellites play just supports what we’re doing across the country,” said fellow event planner Becky N.