Kootenay basketball girls head to Kelowna

After practicing and competing together since mid-June, a group of young basketball players will be leaving for Kelowna next week to represent the Kootenay region at the 2008 BC Summer Games. From July 24 to 27, a group of 14-year-old athletes will battle the best teams from across the Province, looking for fun, good games and new friends.

The girls come from across the Zone, with most of them hailing from Grand Forks, two athletes representing Cranbrook and one participant from each Jaffray and Castlegar. Since forming as a team, the girls have participated in three tournaments, two in Calgary and one in Kamloops. "In between, there's been practices in Cranbrook and Grand Forks," says Assistant Coach Brad Tadey. He admits the constant traveling across fairly long distances has been a challenge. "It is tough," Tadey admits, "but the girls and the parents have really stepped up."

The team has tried to get together at least once a week for an eight hour session, usually split up into two four-hour practices. Beside perfecting their basketball game, the girls also got a chance to get to know one another better through joint activities and team building exercises. Tadey says when visiting the other community for practice, the players were often billeted to the local families and parents always organize a get-together, such as pizza night, barbecue or a trip to the bowling alley.

Tadey thinks now the girls are all very close and it shows in their game. "They're playing really well with the amount they had to learn," he states. Head coach Craig Lindsay also sees the difference in his athletes. "Their defense has really improved," he points out, "and they're starting to play as a team more, passing the ball around."

In each of the three tournaments the team has attended so far, the girls managed to win at least one game in every competition, even though they were often faced with older opponents and teams that had played together for a longer time. The Kootenay Zone representatives also met two of the teams they will have to face again at the BC Summer Games - Fraser River and Okanagan.

In both games, Kootenay came within about 20 points, Lindsay says and he feels they were close enough to have a chance to reverse the results at the Games. "We just need to do a few things better," Lindsay believes. His goal for the Games is to play well and he is hopeful that will translate into results. "We want to finish in the top four or five," Lindsay admits. He knows, however, that it is not going to be easy. "There's going to be a few very strong teams there, loaded with Provincial players," he warns.