Landry returning to 3-on-3 court
Rebecca Landry has decided not to play provincial team basketball this summer. She’s sticking close to Prince George so she can focus more on developing her individual skills on the court in the Junior Timberwolves program at UNBC.
At 16, heading into her senior year at Duchess Park secondary school, Landry is weighing a few college scholarship offers and before she makes that commitment she’s got a few things on her basketball hit list.
One of those must-do items is playing in the Mann Dental Summer Hoops Classic 3-on-3 tournament, Saturday, June 9 at Duchess Park gym.
Landry won the girls division last year playing with her Condor senior teammates, Rachael Holmes and Kayla Gregory. In a memorable final, they needed a comeback to beat the trio of Isabel Fuller of College Heights and Nechako Valley’s Hannah Andres and Kennedy Andres
“It was a really close match, it was just fun to be part of the tournament,” said Landry, who will be playing 3-on-3 this year with two of her Junior T-wolves teammates.
“So many people were there to watch and cheer for both teams and it was a fun environment. We were down by quite a few points at one point (in the final) and we kind of gave our heads a shake and came back.
“Three-on-three in general is just a real fun way to play basketball. It’s much more open and there’s lots of scoring opportunities. But this particular tournament I really like because it’s such a good cause and it’s a real fun environment with everyone going at the same time (on six half-courts) at Duchess. You feel really good after, that you were part of something bigger than yourself. There’s nothing like this in Prince George.”
All players pay a $20 entry fee and all that money goes to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. In its three-year history the tournament has raised $37,000.
A record number of teams is expected. Last year it drew 10 senior boys teams, 12 junior boys teams and 10 girls teams. If enough girls enter there will be separate junior and senior divisions. Each team of three or four players will be guaranteed four round-robin games (two 10-minute halves each) and to be crowned champions they have to win three playoff games.
Sponsored by local businesses, the top three teams in each division will get prizes and medals and the most valuable players in each division will receive the Matt Pearce Memorial Trophy.
Last year’s boys teams winners were: Senior boys – Will Bourque, Soren Erricson and Colburn Pearce; Junior boys – Saager Shergill, Cameron Sale, Ameer Dhillon and Asher Bourque. Pearce and Asher Bourque were the MVPs.
“It’s highly competitive, and the more kids you get involved the better it is – it’s the best way to grow the game,” said tournament organizer Nav Parmar, an assistant coach for the UNBC Timberwolves men’s basketball team.
“The beauty of this tournament is they don’t have to team up with players from their own schools, they branch out. The last two years it’s been a Duchess-PGSS final. After the city finals they’ll tell each other, ‘See you at the 3-on-3.’ The games are just amazing to watch.”
Nav Mann of Mann Dental has known Parmar all of his life and is inspired by the tournament organizer’s passion to keep improving the event. The Summer Hoops Classic won the Youth Initiative of the Year award at the Healthier You Expo last year and it was nominated again this year.
“It’s the perfect event for us to get behind,” said Mann.
“It’s promoting healthy lifestyles and activity for kids and with the Heart and Stroke Foundation being the cause behind the event, for us that makes a lot for sense because strokes and heart disease claim a lot of Canadians’ lives. To raise awareness about it and education is a huge benefit to the community.”
Canadian Tire, Pine Centre Mall, Hub City Volkswagen and School District 57 also sponsor the event. Jordan Yu of Northern Bounce basketball academy and Aaron Brouwer of the Junior Timberwolves program are encouraging their players to sign up.