Lagniappe--Tidbits and Other Quick Notes from the Bayou Segnette Sports Complex

For two weekends in March, the Alario Center hosted the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) Basketball Championships.  The GCAC includes four local universities (Loyola, Xavier, Dillard and SUNO) as well as six other schools in the Gulf South.  In the Women's Tournament, Dillard defeated Loyola 72-59 for the Championship.  Five players from local schools were named to the 2004 GCAC Women's All-Tournament Team: Ferris Peters (Xavier), Marjorie Bilinski (Loyola), Joelle Bordelon (Loyola), Theresa Samuels (Dillard) and Ebony Owens (Dillard) was named Tournament MVP.  In the Men's Tournament, the University of Mobile (pictured) defeated SUNO 59-56 in an exciting Championship game.  SUNO's Lamar Clark and Roberto Ferriar and former Shaw High School standout Nate Williams (Spring Hill) were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Once again the Mardi Gras Open Paintball Tournament was a huge success despite the rainy weather.  February 12-15, brought teams from around the country and as far away as France for the annual event.  The Mardi Gras Open brings into Jefferson Parish an estimated impact of over $100,000 in tourism related income.

Congratulations to Alario Center staff member, Lenny Thibodeaux who the Jefferson Parish Council honored as 2003 Departmental Employee of the Year on March 17, 2004.  The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the service of the citizens of the parish.  Congratulations Lenny!

Special thanks go out to the volunteers for the NCAA's Women's Final Four YES Clinic!  Volunteers from the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation are a great help during the usual summer basketball events that the GNOSF joins us in hosting.  We would like to thank the crew members of the USS San Antonio, LPD-17, (an Amphibious Transport Dock currently under construction in the nearby Northrop Grumman Shipyard--pictured below) who will not only be helping us out for the YES Clinic but also for the Nike Memorial Day Classic.  Thank you all for your help!
                 

The area behind Segnette Field has officially become the Alario Center Festival Grounds.  The Grounds is where the Mardi Gras Open annually takes place and it will host it's first music festival when Country on Whiskey Bayou comes to the Bayou Segnette Sports Complex in March 2004.  The grounds were recently leveled and grass was planted.  This will give us another area to host events in the future and it has already attracted Northeast Sports Group Ultimate Football Camp for this coming July.

Construction should begin in the coming months on a new commercial kitchen addition to the Alario Center.  The Center has never had a large kitchen to handle the volume of food preparation that Messina’s Catering often handles for functions.  This will be a great benefit as we move forward.

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