The newest title sponsor of the Welland Tribune Basketball Tournament is a basketball lifer.

Forty-seven-year-old Welland native Vince Policella Jr. of Policella Homes, a residential builder in Welland and Fonthill, played basketball in Grade 7 and 8 under Tony Rao before embarking on a five-year career at Notre Dame. He suited up for two years on the junior team coached by Mike Rao and Dave Fucile and three years on the senior squad coached by Ralph Nero and Mike Beccaria.

“When playing at Notre Dame, I always say that you have to have fun. I enjoyed every minute playing. You get to meet a lot of new people, you make a lot of friends and those are memories that you will always have,” he said. “It was great what they taught us in high school and it helped us to go even further in university afterwards. I have no regrets, just memories I will never forget and always cherish.”

Among his teammates were Jeff Moscato, Mark Ventresca, Emilio Presti, Chris Moscato and Pat O’Leary. He is still friends with them to this day.

Policella won the Tribune tournament in 1994 in his Grade 11 year with a 56-50 over St. Catharines Collegiate. He played in two more finals but lost to Collegiate and Lakeshore Catholic.

“I remember having friends and family coming to watch and it is a great atmosphere. You see tons of students from the school coming to support the team and the tournament is great for the whole community because it allows 16 teams to play in an old tournament which has been going on for 698 years. It’s a great tournament to play in.”

His experiences playing in the event motivated the four-year member of the Brock Badgers men’s team to sponsor the tournament.

Please click here for the full article on BP Sports Niagara.