Gold medal win for female and silver for male youth teams in the Soo

Kenora, ON – It was an exciting weekend for 30 First Nations youth that journeyed to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to compete in the 3rd annual Ontario Native Basketball Invitational (ONBI). The tournament has a male and female division and open to Indigenous youth ages 13 to 18. This year, 12 male and 6 female teams from across the province competed in the event.

This year, Team Manager, Tania Cameron decided to take three teams to ONBI. “We just had so many boys come out to tryouts that we decided to take a second boys team SwishNish. The coaches and I thought it would be beneficial to send a developmental team to compete at future ONBI’s”.

After an impressive three-game win, the Treaty 3 girls’ team made it to the championship game Team Flight. Last year, the Treaty 3 girls went up against the same team and took home the silver. The year, the girls were determined to take home the gold and did just that, beating Team Flight 61-39.

Meanwhile, the Treaty 3 boys won all four games sending them to the championship game against Jumpball Player Development (JPD). After the loss of two players due to injuries early in the game, the Treaty 3 boys ended up taking silver after a loss of 33-56.

Swish Nish won two games and lost two finishing 7th overall.

Coaching the Treaty 3 and SwishNish boys’ team was Mike Luby and assistant coach Larry Taylor. Raven Boulanger of Winnipeg coached the girls’ team.

Background: 

ONBI is hosted by the Aboriginal Sport and Wellness Council of Ontario.

ONBI 2015 – Treaty 3 boys won Bronze and Treaty 3 girls finished 4th in Rama First Nation

ONBI 2016 – Treaty 3 boys and girls team both won Silver in Timmins