LANGLEY — Ever ponder just how large the province of B.C. is?
Try 944,735 square kilometres, making it larger than Washington, Oregon and California combined, or about four times the size of the United Kingdom.
Prince George’s Duchess Park Condors (23-7) aren’t coming the furthest to take part in the 75th anniversary of the B.C. senior girls basketball championships set to tip of its four-day run Wednesday at the Langley Events Centre.
Yet there’s nothing small about a nine-hour drive to the heart of the provincial hoops world.
Teams from all four tiers of competition will be arriving from all corners of the province today, and the Condors are part of a huge contingent of out-of-towners in the Triple-A tier.
It includes fellow crosstown rivals College Heights, as well as Thompson-Okanagan qualifiers South Kamloops, Valleyview and Sa-Hali from Kamloops, as well as Vernon.
Mark Isfeld of Courtenay, Alberni District from Port Alberni and Stellys from Saanichton make up the Vancouver Island contingent.
So much is set to be celebrated this week, with a Saturday finale planned for Saturday in the LEC’s Arena Bowl.
There are so many others in the 1A and 2A tiers and a handful at 4A tasked with varying degrees of extended travel.
Varsity Letters, via a Tuesday email chat with the Condors’ head coach Reid Roberts, got the full skinny on how his team’s southern excursion was going.
“Parents, coaches, drivers, players up at 5 a.m. to be at Duchess for 6 a.m. drive to Langley — nine hours — in time to get to the banquet.”
“This is our third trip south this season,” added Roberts, whose team also took part in the Tsumura Basketball Invitational and Tessa’s Tournament. “Plus we did the six-hour trip to Kamloops for the Sa-Hali tournament.
“This is routine for teams in the North. PG is 750-km north of Langley. Gas, hotel, food adds up to a very expensive season for these players, so countless hours are spent fund raising to offset costs, running concessions, running elementary basketball camps on the Pro D days, bottle drives are just a few things the players and parents do.
“We have a few parents that have a kitchen unit at our hotel and will make breakfast, lunch and dinner each day for players, coaches, drivers to offset the costs as well. After a massive Costco run, we are treated to home-cooked meals for the next four days. We are so lucky to have this support from Christy (parent, driver, assistant coach) who organized, shops and cooks!”
And while those outside of this province marvel at the incredible organization and popularity of B.C.’s high school basketball championships, it’s stories like Duchess Park’s, delivered by its head coach in the midst of a nine-hour travel day, that makes it all the more special.
If you’re reading this story or viewing these photos on any website other than one belonging to a university athletic department, it has been taken without appropriate permission. In these challenging times, true journalism will survive only through your dedicated support and loyalty. VarsityLetters.ca and all of its exclusive content has been created to serve B.C.’s high school and university sports community with hard work, integrity and respect. Feel free to drop us a line any time at howardtsumura@gmail.com.
