The Ron Artest Foundation held its first ever Fall Brawl Basketball Tournament this weekend at the Variety Boys and Girls Club in Astoria.
The foundation is lead by the father of Queensbridge native Ron Artest, who now goes by Meta World Piece.
The goal of the organization and the tournament is to empower kids through basketball.
"It's good to do tournaments like this throughout the year so the kids have something to do. That's a major part of keeping them off the streets and keeping them out of trouble," said Ron Artest Sr., the founder of the Ron Artest Foundation.
The two-day competition pitted 12 teams of 7th and 8th graders from across the borough against each other.
Organizers said they hoped the match up will encourage kids to study harder so that they can spend more time on the basketball court.
“Keeping them motivated for, about their education and not getting in trouble, doing the right thing. Go to school and play basketball,” said Coach Lloyd, the Athletics Director at the Ron Artest Foundation.
The Foundation's next tournament will be on December 29th and 30th and it will be for high school players.