Shoeless Indian Boys from Mexico Sweep Basketball Tournament Barefoot

On Wednesday, "the barefoot mice from Mexico," as they were called, became this year's champions of the International Festival of Mini-Basketball in Argentina, after the Trique Indian boys from Mexico blazed through the courts without even wearing shoes.

Associated Press reports that the team got their nickname from their short heights and lack of shoes. This did not stop the boys, who came from Oaxaca, a Mexican state, from winning all six of their games.

Every team was offered sneakers for the tournament, which was held at Mexico's Chamber of Deputies, but many of the players on the winning team did not want them. They had grown used to balling barefoot. Most of the children come from poor families that cannot afford to buy new clothes or shoes.

"For them it's normal to not have shoes, to walk barefoot," Ernest Merino, a fellow Trique Indian and one of the team's coaches, said.

According to Merino, the boys were able to overcome their obstacles with "strength, speed and resistance."

After becoming tournament champions, the team received a full minute of applause and accolades from basketball experts and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

"The victories of the Trique Indian team from Oaxaca's Academy of Indigenous Basketball make Mexicans proud," President Nieto said via Twitter.

The International Basketball Federation-Americas organized the competition, and its president, Horacio Muratore, thought the barefoot boys had the best team.

"These boys deserved (the championship) more than anyone," Muratore wrote on International Basketball Federation-Americas' website.

The boys participate in a basketball program created to help children from Oaxaca, one of Mexico's poorest states. The program receives uniforms, sneakers and a monthly $46 stipend from the Oaxaca state government. Participants are required to maintain good grades, do chores at home and speak their native language. Thirty-five boys and five girls are currently enrolled.

"We see a basketball as an opportunity to grow in life," Merino said.