Lifetime of memories made at 5th Annual Ontario Native Basketball Invitational
By Rick Garrick
THUNDER BAY—The Niagara Regional Native Centre boys and Treaty #3 girls teams took home the gold medals at the 5th Annual Ontario Native Basketball Invitational (ONBI), held April 18-21 in Thunder Bay.
“It was just a blast coming out here — I had lots of fun working with my teammates,” says Avery Steinbach Parker, a Grade 11 student at Greater Fort Erie Secondary School and member of the Niagara boys team. “Overall, it was a great experience here.”
Niagara won the 2019 ONBI Gold Medal boys championship game 58-44 against the Hamilton Regional Indian Centre team.
“It was an exciting game — we played Hamilton in the past over the last two-and-a-half years and we were never able to beat them so it was a big accomplishment,” says Shannon Hill, coach of the Niagara team. “All weekend we were really working on our defence and pressuring the ball and pressuring full court. [We were] using our whole bench, everybody was involved in a good way.”
Hill says the tournament was a good outlet for many of the players on the team.
“Some of them have never played organized ball, and it was an eye-opener for them,” Hill says. “That is what this is all about is opportunity and friendships and memories and that’s what we want to provide to them.”
The tournament was held by Indigenous Sport and Wellness Ontario (ISWO) with more than 100 youth in attendance from about 40 First Nations and Métis communities, including about 13 Anishinabek Nations.
“It was all worth the weekend, [with] the excitement right down to the wire,” says Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Glen Hare after watching his grandson’s team, the Sudbury Martens, win 68-66 against the Treaty #3 boys team on their last shot of the boys bronze medal game. “It went right down to the last second.”
Grand Council Chief Hare says the tournament was an “awesome” experience for the youth.
“From observing here all weekend, both on and off the court, it’s been awesome in Thunder Bay here on the weekend,” Grand Council Chief Hare says. “And on the court, as you can see, it was pretty exciting.”
The Treaty #3 girls team won the ONBI Gold Medal girls championship game 69-50 against the Sudbury Martens girls team.
“It was the most exciting, the most intense, the most action-oriented and the most amazing game to watch,” says Kim Wheatley, manager of culture and community engagement with ISWO. “This gem of skillsets that are here needs to be recognized way more widely — they are awesome.”
Wheatley says the girls had “really good team spirit.”
“This is a lifetime memory these girls just made, and I think it’s going to change the course of their lives,” Wheatley says. “They’re definitely going to inspire other little girls watching them that, ‘hey, anything is possible!’ ”
The Pelican Falls team won the girls bronze medal game 41-21 against the Anemki Thunderbirds team.
Marc Laliberte, president of ISWO, says ONBI is more than about basketball.
“It’s an opportunity for Indigenous youth and communities to come together to share, learn, and celebrate achievements,” says. “The friendships made on and off the court can last a lifetime and the experience of participating in a provincial tournament can open new doors and pathways for building capacity, developing skills, increasing confidence and strengthening self-identity.”
The ONBI was also an identifier for participation in the upcoming North American Indigenous Games, which is scheduled for July 12-18, 2020, in Halifax, NS.