Global economic woes impact annual tournament

While there were still a large number of participants, this year’s Provincial Junior All-Native Basketball Tournament, held March 8 to 12 in Prince Rupert, had some disappointing attendance figures.

“That’s what happens when you get a global meltdown,” said George Sampson, a tournament organizer. “There’s a lot of industries that are hurting right now.”

The provincial tournament, which features both female and male divisions, has been held annually since 1972. The event, which attracted 46 clubs, showcased Native players ages 17 and under. This marked the fourth time that Prince Rupert had staged the tournament. They last held the event three years ago.

“I can tell you it wasn’t as big as the last time it was here,” Sampson said, adding he was unable to provide an exact figure of how many spectators showed up for the tournament.

Matches were held at three different locations, two local high schools, as well as a community gym.

Sampson believes widespread economic woes and the fact the tournament was staged in northern British Columbia prevented several people from attending, especially for those who would have had lengthy journeys to travel to Prince Rupert.

“It’s pretty difficult for everybody to show up with their community,” he said. “If you’re travelling for two days, it costs a lot of money to stay in hotels and put yourself up.”

Sampson said the quality of play at this year’s event was comparable to previous years. In many cases, players that are on the participating clubs have already spent plenty of time together this season.

“They grow up together in their communities,” he said. “And many of them play together for their school programs and then they come to our program here.”

High schools in B.C. traditionally have their basketball seasons come to an end during the first week of March. And Sampson said there’s usually not much of a break for the athletes after that as the All-Native junior provincial tournament is traditionally run during the second week of March.

Sampson said there were some surprising results at this year’s event. For example, he was somewhat surprised to see the Lytton squad capture the girls’ division. Lytton defeated Kitimaat, the 2009 tournament champions, in its gold-medal match.

Sampson said the Lytton girls’ clubs in recent years have not traditionally fared well at the provincial tourney.

“The girls from Lytton grew up and became young women,” he said. “This time they competed very well.”

Meanwhile, the host Prince Rupert Tribesmen defeated Skidegate in the boys’ final.

Though the size of the crowds was disappointing, Sampson said he was pleased with another facet of the tournament. And that would be with the large number of people who offered assistance throughout the week.

“I’m happy with the volunteers,” he said. “You can’t have a tournament of that size without a large number of volunteers.”

Sampson said about 50 people volunteered their services at the tournament. They had a wide variety of responsibilities, including ticket and program sales, timekeeping, scorekeeping and providing security.