Photo Story - Liam Spencer

Salem Capitals

The Salem capitals are a Semi-Professional basketball team that play in the TBL (The Basketball League) That is a basketball league filled with bunch of teams all around the country. The Capitals are in the western conference with 10 other teams. There are 4 other conferences in the entire league. East conference, Midwest conference, central conference and then the western conference. The capitals are a relatively brand-new team as they are only going into their third season this year. The season officially is underway in March 2024. The "Caps" play down at the Salem Armory located in downtown Salem. They are currently getting ready for the season to start up. Right now, they attended different events around Salem and try to really get involved in the community. The most fascinating things about the Capitals in my opinion are the things they do in the offseason with their community. I attended two different events that they were gathered at such as the Garten services gala, and the Salem Christmas Parade. The Owner or the league Jason Conrad. He is in charge of everything going on, on the court and off. He gets the capitals all different kinds of sponsorships and is also the one getting them into the events that they attend. As the Capitals are in the offseason, they host open gyms at the Salem Armory during the week every Wednesday. When that is not happening, Jason and the other Salem Capitals employees are attending meetings to try and get a bunch of different sponsorships and trying to get there name out there as much as possible to become as popular as they can. The Capitals are fired up to start up there 2024 season!

I attended the Salem armory on a Friday, November 17th. Where the Caps hosted an event that host a ton of different businesses around Salem, and they try to get there name out there together and promote each other every way that they can. They bring out the mascot as a nice promoter as everyone loves a team mascot. They all gather together and speak about ways to get their name out there and see what sponsorships they can all invest in. 

Tyreek Price Playing at the Salem Capitals open gym. This photo was captured on Wednesday, November 15th. Tyreek Price is a current returner to the Salem Caps. He is a super valuable player to the team as he was either first man off the bench or even starting some games. He is such a skillful player and is ready to kick off the season. He can score on anyone that guards him at the open gyms. Tyreek was a former Western Oregon basketball player, after his 4 years there he then went on to become a Capital. 

November 8th, 2023. Owner Jason Conrad on the stand Promoting the Salem Capitals at the Garten Services Gala. It was a fundraising event to make money to help support adolescents with special needs who are trying to find jobs for themselves. The way the fundraiser was through an auction and people would bid on different items. All the money went to all the adolescents to help the special needs people find jobs. Jason was one of the main hosts of this event. He showed out with other members and employees of the Capitals to help and support his community. 

November 11th. The Salem Capitals hosting there weekly open run. The main reason they run this every week is to make sure the players still understand and run through the motions they're going to need on the team for the season. Caps want to make sure their players are staying in shape and are keeping up with basketball as the season starts up in March. 

November 17th, Friday. Back at the office of the Capitals located in Salem, Keizer. The office is mainly for them to set up meetings to get sponsorships and too also print and make their merchandise. In the picture above is Domo Lawrence who just got done in a meeting with other employees. Domo is also a player on the team, he is a guy who loves to help out with his community as he plays and also helps off the court. 

November 15th. Preston Whitfield is a current starter on the Salem Capitals. He is the player going up and grabbing the rebound, he is the Capitals shooting guard and is pumped up to play his second season with The Caps. He shows up to every open run as he continues to improve his game for the upcoming season.