About 50 young athletes competed at the John Barsby Secondary School gym for ribbons and bragging rights during the third day of the Coast Salish Games.
"We had a lot more of the younger kids turn out then we thought we would, which is awesome," said Kai Leighton, organizer of the Coast Salish Games basketball event. "I think for a lot of them it was their first time picking up a basketball. Even if we didn't have teams from all across the different communities and nations, it's great just to get them started."
While the interest from younger community members was positive, Leighton said it was a challenge to organize the teams. Many of the younger players wanted to play alongside their friends, while organizers also had to spread out the more experienced players to create balanced teams.
In the end, it seems officials were successful in that task. The tournament final was neck-and-neck, ending with a 10-10 after regulation time and leading to overtime, when the yellow team inched ahead to score victory.
"Sport really brings everyone together," Leighton said. "I know for a lot of the communities sometimes it can be a challenge to organize sports because they're not big communities. So having everyone here together in a fun, sort of competitive environment is just great."
Leighton said if there's any Coast Salish youths who haven't participated in the games yet, it isn't too late with two days of action left.
"We had a lot of kids today that never played basketball, I'm sure we had a lot of kids yesterday who have never played soccer, and lacrosse was a super big hit. We're offering a wide array of sports and there are tons of volunteers and they're super friendly. We just want to get kids out."
