Tseshaht elected councillor and longtime basketball player/referee/coach Gina Pearson has been tasked with organizing the Vancouver Island Region U-19 tryout camp for the 2014 North American Indigenous Games.
The Games will take place from July 20 through July 27 in Regina, Sask. Phase I Regional ID Camps for both boys and girls in the U-14, U-16 and U-19 age categories will be held across all six regions of the province.
The local camp takes place at Alberni Athletic Hall on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20. Pearson said the goal is to identify standouts, male and female, from the Nuu-chah-nulth, Coast Salish and Kwakwaka'wakw Nations, who will then be invited to try out for Team BC.
Last year, Hesquiaht First Nation hosted the 2012 Junior All-Native Basketball Tournament at Athletic Hall, which featured the best players in the province aged 17 and under. Expect to see many of those stellar athletes back on the same court this fall.
“They should still just qualify,” Pearson said. “The tryouts are quite extensive; they really test their skills and see their abilities. They will be looking at their dribbling, their ball handling, their free-throw shots – that’s very important.”
But most important will be the ability to play as part of a team, she added – showboaters need not apply. “You’re not a team player if you continually hang onto the ball yourself.”
Pearson said the tryout process is an education in itself, as each individual player strives to become part of a larger and larger community, culminating with the gathering of all of North America’s Indigenous peoples.
“For any of our youth within the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations, it would be an amazing experience for them to be selected because of their athletic abilities, to participate in something so huge, with players they may not know, building rapport and friendship with other nations.”
For Pearson, basketball has been part of a lifelong learning process.
“I’ve played basketball since I was in elementary school in Duncan. When we moved to Port Alberni, I played at A.W. Neill, and my coach was Lui Adamo. I didn’t play at ADSS, but I started playing on First Nations teams. One of my first teams was with Amy Campbell, from Ditidaht. She and her husband coached a junior girls all-native team. Then my sister and I formed a team within Tseshaht a few years later.”
A few years ago, while serving as recreation coordinator for Tseshaht, Pearson organized a Masters (35-plus) level tournament and got back on the court for the first time in years.
“One of my goals as recreation coordinator was to get the nations physically active. I talked to Lui Adamo and he thought it was a good idea. It was a good first effort and it really got the ball rolling.”
Adamo, who has acted as mentor since Pearson’s days at A.W. Neill, had already convinced her a few years earlier that she should become a certified referee. Then last year, after attending the Junior All-Natives, she was inspired to take a coaching clinic and certify as a Level One coach through the Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Association of B.C.
This year, she has conducted youth basketball clinics in Ucluelet and Ditidaht and has applied to become an assistant coach with Team BC.
“I’ve just been keeping in the flow, and I saw that Aboriginal Sport had openings to do the basketball camps.
“I put in an application this spring and they got back within a week to say that me and my team had been selected to be the host for the Island tryouts.”
There will be six regional tryout camps in total, taking place over the Oct. 19-20 or Oct. 26-27 weekends. Successful candidates will be invited to the main Selection Camp in Langley on Dec. 20 through 22.
The Port Alberni camp is for athletes born up to Dec. 31, 1995. No limit has been set on the number of candidates for the Regional Camps.
Team BC cannot provide transportation or overnight accommodation for athletes attending the Regional Camps.
Likewise, once a U-19 team is selected for NAIG 2014, it will be up to individual players to follow the training regimen set out by their coaches.
Players in the U-19 age range may no longer be playing high school ball, but players at the university are still eligible. There are also community leagues and all-native tournaments.
Team BC is in the process of setting up a Web site where prospective players can register for the tryouts. There will be a nominal fee, still to be determined, for registration.
Pearson said it has not yet been determined whether athletes would be billeted or whether a central location for accommodations, such as nearby Glenwood Centre, will be booked. She said in the meantime, players are encouraged to dust off their court skills to be ready for this latest challenge.
“I’ve already talked to my team about getting ready once they are set up in school in September,” she said.
Related: Photo Galleries from the 2012 Junior All Native Basketball Championships, and lot’s more where under the Photo tab.
http://www.hashilthsa.com/gallery/finals-boys-and-girls
http://www.hashilthsa.com/gallery/boys-final-heiltsuk-vs-skidegate-0
http://www.hashilthsa.com/gallery/girls-final-ahousaht-mystic-sunz-and-gingolx-storm
http://www.hashilthsa.com/gallery/skidegate-and-syilx-boys-semi-final
