sviba basketball
THE RISE OF SUMMER BASKETBALL IN VICTORIA
When former UCLA All-American and Denver Nugget star forward Kiki Vandeweghe was asked one year why he did not have a dark tan after spending the summer back at his California home he replied, “There is no sunlight in the gym.”
That answer may explain why many basketball players in the Victoria area go back to school each September looking extremely pale. For the keen players who want to focus on developing their basketball skills, they can find year-round basketball opportunities through the South Vancouver Island Basketball Association’s programs.
A little bit about SVIBA
The South Vancouver Island Basketball Association is the longest-running club program in the province and offers a diverse list of opportunities for more players than any other regional club basketball program on Vancouver Island. Since its inception in 1986, the SVIBA has grown to include spring leagues, all-star games, spring camps, coaches clinics and summer select travelling teams. During the 2020 and 2021 spring and summer seasons, the SVIBA program was forced to shutdown due to the onset of the covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, but this hiatus led to the development of new programs for boys and girls which extended the association’s involvement in the community and gave more players new opportunities to play the sport they love. During the past year’s fall, spring and summer seasons, over 1,200 players and coaches participated in these programs.
The Original Goal
The original goal of the SVIBA program was to provide local players with the opportunity to stay in shape and to keep their skills sharp prior to attending provincial team camps. The backbone of the SVIBA program has become the Run and Gun Spring League which includes divisions for boys and girls in grades six to university graduates. Participants play once each week on teams composed of players from different schools with the goal of allowing kids to play without many restrictions. This past year over 500 boys and girls played on 50 teams which included the Run and Gun Spring League and the Run Gun Fall League with boys and girls teams seeking to get a head start on their high-school season.
For our local graduating players, SVIBA organizes the annual Vancouver Island Seniors Classic which matches the top Victoria area grade 12 players against those from the North Island in boys and girls all-star games. This series has become the province’s premier high-school seniors showcase every year and includes two boys’ games and one girls’ game each year with the games played in April at the Spectrum Secondary School Old Gym.
This Season
This season SVIBA will continue to organize the Rising Stars All-Star Games which involves the top grades 8-11 girls during the season’s high-school season playing in Rising Juniors (grades 8-9) and Rising Seniors (grades 10-11) all-star games matching players from the Victoria school district area against those players from the combined Sooke and Saanich school district areas. This year’s edition will again take place the same weekend as the Seniors Classic games in April at Spectrum Secondary School.
Perhaps the highest profile program under the SVIBA banner has become the FAB 50 High-Performance Boys and Girls Select Camps held every April. Coaches nominate players to be invited to attend this camp which features instruction from local coaches, competitions and guest presentations from B. C.’s top university coaches, including former Vancouver Island University coach Tony Bryce, former Thompson Rivers University coach Scott Reeves, Fraser Valley University coach Joe Enevoldsen, B. C. U17 boys coach Jamie Blake and Simon Fraser University coaches Steve Hanson and Bruce Langford. The latest edition of the FAB 50 Camps attracted 180 boys and 125 girls in grades 6-11 from throughout Vancouver Island to attend the camp. At the conclusion of these annual camps, touring select teams are chosen to represent the South Island area in various tournaments throughout the spring and the early summer held throughout the Pacific Northwest. The SVIBA offers girls’ and boys’ spring and summer select teams, including Youth for grades 5-6, Development for grades 6-7, Midget for grade 8, Futures for grades 9-11 and Juvenile for grades 9-11.
Tournaments
SVIBA led the way in establishing the Vancouver Island Tournament Series involving three other founding clubs from throughout Vancouver Island. The goal of the series is to create more games for Vancouver Island club teams without facing the costs involved with travelling to the Lower Mainland every weekend seeking competition. After getting this tournament series firmly established, the founding clubs are committed to a bigger and better schedule in future seasons. The SVIBA teams also annually host the annual Island Summer Shootout Tournament in late May which has become one of the province’s most competitive club tournaments and the Canadian Summer Tipoff Tournament in late June. This tournament series is also spearheading the organization of an annual Vancouver Island Club Basketball Championship Tournament in late June with the host location rotated between the founding host clubs in Victoria, Duncan, Nanaimo and Courtenay.
The rise of these basketball opportunities for players in the South Island area has coincided with the increase of success during the subsequent school season. Last season once again saw several Victoria high-school girls teams with former SVIBA players on their rosters qualify for the senior girls and junior girls provincial championship tournaments. We hope the opportunities SVIBA will be offering the local boys players will help to produce similar results for South Island boys teams in future years.
South Island teams can expect continued success during the high-profile school season as long as their players continue to develop and to work on their skills rather than their tans during the warm spring and summer months.
THE SVIBA 2023-2024 CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Greater Victoria Pre-Season Coaches Clinic
-Saturday, September 23, 2023, at University of Victoria McKinnon Gym
Future Stars Elementary and Middle School Tournament
-Friday-Saturday, November 24-25, 2023, at Belmont Secondary School
Run and Gun Spring League – Junior Boys / Senior Boys Divisions
-Tuesday, April 2, 2024 – final individual and team registration night
-the league continues the next six Tuesday nights at Spectrum School
Run and Gun Spring League – Junior Girls / Senior Girls / Open Women Divisions
-Wednesday, April 3, 2024 – final individual and team registration night
-the league continues the next six Wednesday nights at Belmont School
3rd Rising Stars All-Star Games (Juniors – grades 8-9; Seniors – grades 10-11)
-Friday, April 5, 2024, at Spectrum School Old Gym
35th Vancouver Island Seniors Classic All-Star Games (graduating grade 12s)
-Saturday, April 6, 2024, at Spectrum School Old Gym
3rd Annual FAB 50 Selects Boys Invitational Camp
-Saturday – Sunday, April 13-14, 2024, at Belmont Secondary School Gym
28th Annual FAB 50 Selects Girls Invitational Camp
-Saturday – Sunday, April 20-21, 2024, at Belmont Secondary School Gym
30th Annual Island Summer Shootout Tournament for Girls and Boys
-Saturday, May 25-26, 2024, at Spectrum and Belmont Secondary School Gyms
26th Annual Canadian Summer Tipoff for Girls and Boys
-Saturday – Sunday, June 15-16, 2024, at Spectrum and Belmont School Gyms
1st Annual Vancouver Island Club Championship Tournament
-Friday – Sunday, June 21-23, 2024, at Spectrum and Belmont School Gyms
For information regarding any of the above listed programs or events, please contact:
Brett Westcott (H: 250-388-9807, FAX: 250-388-9507, EMAIL: [email protected])