For more than two decades, the Chinese Canadian Youth Athletics Association (CCYAA) has supported thousands of youth across the Greater Toronto Area, nationally in Canada, and internationally in the United States.
Their programs not only promote sports engagement and healthy lifestyles, but also provide youth with a strong sense of community along with opportunities for fair play. CCYAA is most notable for their presence in basketball which draws support from prominent athletes and celebrities.
Annually, CCYAA hosts a charity basketball tournament, the CCYAA Celebrity Classic, that draws many high-profile celebrities from the Asian American and Canadian communities. This year, more than 20 notable individuals from the Asian American and Canadian communities came together in Toronto’s Goldring Centre to raise funds for the Jeremy Lin Foundation and the CCYAA.
Participants in this year’s Celebrity Classic and Youth Jam included Jeremy Lin, Simu Liu,
Andrew Phung, Young Mazino, Olivia Cheng, Adrianne Ho and more go head-to-head on the court.
See also: Asian celebrities shoot hoops, give back in basketball showdown
Before the game started, Simu Liu invited Clement Chu, CCYAA’s President and Founder to present a $50,000 donation to CCYAA. This generous donation will help CCYAA continue to empower young, Asian youth in basketball and sport.
“Asian kids need to be proud of who they are and that’s something we’re seeing increasingly hard to do in 2023,” says pro basketball player Jeremy Lin.
Meanwhile, Lin’s initiative, the Jeremy Lin Foundation partners with grassroots programs to serve low income AAPI and cross-racial youth across the United States.
Canadian representation at the Celebrity Classic
Canadian actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan shared her vision for what Asian Canadian heritage stories she wants to see showcased in media. As a proud Tamil Canadian, Ramakrishnan shares that the largest diaspora of Tamil people is in Canada.
“A lot of people in the kitchen… the cooks are Tamil… I would love to do a series about the [Tamil] cooks in the kitchen around the world, within Canada, like a docuseries or limited series, to hear people’s stories, how they learn to cook and different styles.”
See also: Tamil Cooks in Toronto’s Kitchens
CCYAA’s impact on Asian youth
With CCYAA’s annual Celebrity Classic, festival, and programming getting bigger every year, participants like Simu Liu recognize the meaningful impact this event and the organization has on Asian youth. “The magic of this game is that with the exception of Jeremy, there’s not a lot of professional ballers here, what you will see are these Asian creatives and athletes that are excelling across all these different landscapes. Hopefully, that’s inspiring to children who never knew it was possible,” says Liu.
Learn more about CCYAA’s year-round programming and The Jeremy Lin Foundation to support the future of Asians in athletics.
See also: Hāfu: Being an NBA star between two cultures
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