Remembering Mabel
Royals to host annual memorial tournament honouring basketball stalwart
An annual basketball tournament that honours a stalwart and pioneer of the sport in Antigonish will take place this weekend.
The Dr. John Hugh Gillis Regional Royals Division 1 girls’ basketball team will host the Mabel Arsenault Memorial Robertson Electrical Classic, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, at the Regional gym.
“We are playing for such a great cause and in honour of such a wonderful person,” Grade 12 forward Lauren Lowther said.
“It pumps us up and makes us really want to win the tournament. It is such a great motivator.”
Veteran head coach Gail Macdougall said the fall event is “a special one for us.”
“Mabel put so much into minor basketball and coached with me the first year that I coached [the Royals] at the high school level,” she said of her dear friend, who passed away in 2005, after a lengthy battle with cancer.
“She was somebody who always gave it her all on the court and was a great team player.”
The Regional and Avon View Avalanche of Windsor – coached by former Royal and Antigonish native Jeannie Flynn – will tip-off the six-team, two division tournament Friday at 2 p.m.
“It is a good balance from across the province. Hopefully, we are going to be ready and play to our abilities,” Macdougall said.
The Sackville Kingfishers, Sir John A. Macdonald Flames, CEC Cougars and Riverview Royals are the other squads in the field.