The Hesquiaht Descendants are confident they can improve upon their performance from last February at the upcoming All Native Basketball Tournament.
The women’s squad is gearing up for the 2026 tourney, which will be staged in Prince Rupert from Feb. 14-21.
The tournament, which will celebrate its 66th edition next year, is one of the most prestigious Indigenous hoops events in British Columbia.
The maximum of 64 squads will compete in the 2026 tourney. Clubs will be divided into five divisions.
The Descendants are one of three Nuu-chah-nulth squads that will be competing. The two other NCN clubs are from Ahousaht First Nation and will participate in the women’s and women’s masters categories.
The Descendants had hoped to match or surpass their 2024 second-place finish when they competed at this year’s tournament this past February. But after winning its first match the Hesquiaht club suffered two straight losses and was eliminated from further action, ending up with a sixth-place finish.
“Honestly, it was a pretty disappointing finish,” said Mariah Charleson, the Descendants’ captain who is also the chief councillor for her First Nation. “We lost to teams that normally we wouldn't have lost to.”
Charleson, who founded the Descendants in 2015, said the club will be looking to rebound and have much better results at the upcoming All Native tourney.
“That’s the hope,” she said.
And she is confident the Hesquiaht club has the potential to accomplish its desired goal.
“We have a lot of talent on our team,” Charleson said. “Obviously we've proved it as long as everyone is healthy and in shape, then there's no reason why we can't make a top three finish. And I always think that we have the potential to make the finals.”
As in previous years, it’s always a challenge to try to get all members of the Descendants’ team together for practices.
“Our Hesquiaht members live all over the map,” Charleson said.
Several players on the team’s roster did get together a couple of months ago and they placed second at a tournament in Hitacu.
The Descendants have also entered a two-day tournament starting on Boxing Day, Dec. 26, in Port Alberni.
Other than that, Charleson is not sure if the club will have an opportunity to play any other games before it heads to Prince Rupert.
“We're open to playing in any type of tournaments,” she said. “It's just quiet as usual. It's pretty costly to host tournaments nowadays.”
Teams participating at the All Native tourney must have a minimum of eight players and a maximum of 12 on their roster.
Ten players have committed to making the trip and suiting up for the Descendants in Prince Rupert in February. Besides Charleson, the others are Destiny Hanson, Skylene Touchie, Jada Touchie, Chantelle Thomas, Jaylynn Lucas, Shania Sabbas, Tamia Edgar, Kura Rorick and Heather Campbell.
“Everybody so far is healthy,” Charleson said, adding the club could potentially include some young up-and-comers but their status is unknown now since they are faring well with their high school teams. “But we have the same solid core that we've had for the last number of years.”
Charleson said team members traditionally incur upwards of $25,000 in expenses to travel and compete at the All Native tournament. The club is also looking for some financial help.
“The team is always looking for donations,” she said. “It’s a super expensive trip.”
To make a donation of any amount people can contact Charleson through her email address at mariah_charleson@hotmail.com
Though the All Native tourney is one of the most popular Indigenous sporting events in the province, organizers are not looking to expand the number of participating clubs and have capped the number of entrants at 64.
“That’s all we can accommodate,” said Peter Haugan, who has served as the president of the tournament organizing committee for the past 16 years.
Clubs that did not get automatically knocked out in two straight games at the 2025 event are automatically entered in next year’s event, provided they are interested in taking part again.
The list of participating teams for the 2026 tournament was set in October.
“No one has dropped out (yet),” Haugen said. “But we always end up with one or two teams that don’t come for whatever reason.”
All of the tournament divisions have a waiting list of clubs that are keen to take part if a spot becomes available.
Besides women’s and men’s categories, the tournament also includes women’s intermediate and masters divisions, as well as a men’s masters grouping.
The Descendants are one of 16 squads that will compete in the women’s division. This category will have the most teams at the tournament.
The women’s intermediate grouping has the second highest number of competing teams with 14.
