Ohtani Boys Team 1941, NCYBA Champs

A community tradition

Ohtani Basketball traces its roots to a time when a Japanese American child who wanted to play organized basketball had few opportunities other than playing with the Japanese American Church leagues. Ohtani Basketball provided opportunities to get to know and socialize with other youth who understood many of the challenges as well as the opportunities that faced Japanese American youth growing up in Berkeley and the surrounding area.

Families cultivated friendships, supported each other, and had fun watching and helping out their children’s basketball teams. Ohtani Basketball brought together families from all walks of life, drawing from the larger community affiliated with the Berkeley Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple. Players and their families also got to compete with and get to know Japanese American teams from across the state at year-end tournaments.

For years, only high school players participated in Ohtani Basketball teams. These girls teams and boys teams formed the core of Ohtani Basketball until the 1970s. As more and more younger brothers and sisters of Ohtani players expressed an interest in playing basketball, Ohtani Basketball began forming younger and younger teams. Today, children can start playing as young as first grade.

At the same time as younger and younger players were joining Ohtani Basketball, friends of the players wanted to play with them on their Ohtani teams. The basketball families of the Berkeley Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple welcomed these new players - even though they were not members of the Temple. Today, this diverse community shares common values of friendship, cooperation, compassion, and working together for the benefit of their children.