Prince George’s Indigenous basketball tournament is looking to duplicate its success in year two.
The Lheidli Classic is set for November 14-16 and will welcome 14 men’s teams and 6 women’s teams to compete across three schools in Prince George: Cedars Christian School, Prince George Secondary School and Duchess Park Secondary.
Organizer, Erica McLean told Vista Radio the pool of teams coming to the Northern Capital is expanding.
“We have some returning strong teams like Similkameen and Burnaby and we are incredibly excited to welcome some of the big impact, high energy teams from the north west coast like Hartley Bay, Haisla and some of the Nisga’a teams as well.”
She added the teams who participated last year had a lot of positive feedback on having a tournament like this in our city.
“A lot of the stories that we heard from our teams that came here was how incredibly convenient Prince George is. The Lheidli T’enneh territory is such an ideal location for a tournament like this and the feedback that we got from teams is that it’s a great travel location for them.”
“What we are seeing and what we are learning is that this world is very big and this world is building. We have so much interest from teams that we haven’t connected with before.”
McLean added the organizers wanted to book the tournament that avoided conflict with similar events.
A welcome event is taking place at Cedars Christian at 12:15pm Saturday which will include remarks from Mayor Simon Yu as well as Lheidli Chief and Council.
“Lheidli T’enneh is excited to be the host of the 2nd Annual Lheidli Classic Indigenous Basketball Tournament – bringing together First Nations teams, fans, families, and friends from across British Columbia,” said Chief Dolleen Logan, Lheidli T’enneh First Nation.
“Basketball has played a significant role for First Nations peoples, particularly on the North Coast, which has melded sport, culture, art, and community. We aim to harness that amazing energy here in Prince George, while showcasing the amazing talents of all the athletes.”
The Burnaby Chiefs, who won the inaugural title in the men’s division last year, are returning this year.
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