Lake City Basketball is gearing up for its second Spring season.
Identification camps are being held on March 11th and 13th (girls) and March 12th and 14th (boys).
In its first year, Lake City had nine club teams with 110 players aged 11 to 17 from Penticton, Summerland, Oliver, Keremeos, and Osoyoos. More than 70 have already registered for this year’s camp.
“It’s really neat to see kids who compete against each other during their school seasons, become teammates, and push each other to improve further,” said Lake City Basketball director Chris Terris.
Teams attend tournaments in Vancouver, Kelowna and Kamloops. This year Lake City Basketball will host its own tournament, a qualifier for the National Club Championships in Vancouver later in the summer.
“We were really pleased with the response our athletes in the first year. Teams competed very well against Drive, 3D, the Junior Heat and other programs from both British Columbia and Alberta — programs that have been running for years. We made a number of age group finals and won one down at the 3D tournament.”
At the beginning of April, each team will practice twice a week with the focus on skill development and game understanding.
“Even after one year, you can see some results when you watch some of the players play for their school teams,” said Terris. “Playing a club season really helps kids make another leap. We’ve got some really talented local players and when they come together, the teams can compete at a high level.”
Lake City 3-on-3
Lake City Basketball is hitting the court with a 3-on-3 league for Grades 3 to 5 players.
“Basketball Canada is encouraging programs across the nation to develop the game and skills with this great version of basketball,” said co-coach Brian Hurst. “It is believed that as a result of more touches our basketball players will quickly improve their skill and understanding of the game.”
The league will operate from April 4 to May 23 on Tuesdays from 5 to 7 p.m. at Okanagan College and each session runs for one hour and will involve developmental skills followed by three games. There will be an initial evaluation camp on April 4 where Hurst and co-coach Russ Reid will look to create balanced teams. The teams will consist of five athletes, which provides substitutions, breaks and in the case where athletes are away, teams will still be able to play their games.
For more information or to secure a spot please contact Brian Hurst or Russ Reid at lakecity.youthbasketball@gmail.com.