ESTEVAN - The 13th annual Victor Elias Memorial Shoot for a Cure Pink Basketball Tournament, held March 1 and 2 at the Estevan Comprehensive School, assisted a couple of local men battling cancer.
Proceeds of the tournament will be directed towards Bob Seibel and Roland Montebon and their respective families. During the opening ceremonies Friday night, MCs Jayren Schulz and Osama Kamel chronicled the cancer fights of Seibel and Montebon.
Seibel is battling multiple myeloma, which is cancer in the white blood cells. The father of ECS teacher Melissa Holman, Seibel has been a supporter of the basketball programs at ECS for years.
Seibel was described as being the biggest fan of ECS basketball. Due to his cancer treatment, he was unable to attend the McLeod Series games against Weyburn for the first time in years. He has also been a big part of the Shoot for a Cure tournament, cheering on all of the teams attending.
Montebon is the father of Khyrstal and Bethany Monetbon. Both were student athletes on the senior girls’ basketball team at ECS. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year and has been receiving treatment since that time.
Bethany, who is currently playing for Lloydminster's Lakeland College, the top-ranked women's basketball collegiate team in the country, returned to Estevan for the tournament.
Both of the cancer survivors received gifts and hugs from the Elecs.
"As you can see, both men are strong and courageous fighters," said Schulz. "You both have supported basketball programs and now it is their turn to support you."
Schulz and Kamel noted the pink basketball tournament concept come to Saskatchewan in 2009 when the Assiniboia Rockets purchased pink uniforms to support a basketball player from Fillmore diagnosed with cancer. Other schools have since stepped up in the interest of giving back.
ECS hosted a pink tournament for the first time in 2011. There are now 27 teams with pink jerseys in the province.
The Estevan tournament is named in honour of Elias, the father of ECS senior girls' basketball coach Jessie Smoliak. Elias died from cancer in 2017 after battling cancer for 24 years.
Elias was at Shoot for a Cure each year, Schulz said, and Smoliak is thankful to everyone for the donors, the volunteers and Kerri Lawson for decorating the gymnasium.
