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After two cancelled tournaments because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bedford Road Invitational Tournament (BRIT) will return as one of Canada’s premier high school boys basketball competitions.
BRIT 53 is set for Jan. 12-14 with teams from all over Canada set to participate.
It took months and months of planning as challenges were still there, even through the later stages of the pandemic, according to BRIT chair Nicole Poier.
“(We were) thinking about teams travelling and the restrictions that each individual school division has had on them (and) thinking about the cost of travel these days,” Poier said.
One thing they didn’t want to sacrifice is the tradition of BRIT and making sure that when people returned, it felt just like it did the last time a tournament was held in January of 2020 — two months before the pandemic began.
“I knew that when BRIT was coming back, I wanted BRIT to be back. So I didn’t want to modify it in any way,” Poier said.
She noted there were discussions with the committee about changes and ways to improve the event, but they didn’t move forward with any.
Poier says remembering all the work and details that need to go into the event was a task in itself, from organizing volunteers to getting merch ready to concessions and so much more, even after being part of the committee for 17 years.
But she’s just happy basketball is back.
“We’re back and we’re going to be bigger than ever,” Poier said.
BRIT draws some of the biggest and best high school teams in the country and some will be in attendance this year.
“We have a couple teams out of B.C., we have a couple teams out of Alberta and a couple teams out of Winnipeg — and then obviously our local Saskatchewan teams,” she said.
The full list of teams participating will be released after the local play-in games next Wednesday.
While in years past there have been teams from New York and as far as Australia playing in BRIT, Poier says organizers always put their focus on Canadian schools.
“We don’t typically, to be honest, look for those (international) teams as often as one might think. We do try to showcase Canadian teams and if there is an international team that is interested in coming this way, they’ll reach out to us,” Poier said.
She said there’s a lot of talent in Canada and it’s important to give those players a stage to perform on, but the committee is always open to inviting international teams.
But this year’s lineup is going to be exciting.
“They’re all going to be bringing something different to the table. I think it’s going to be a very competitive group. We don’t have that one team that you know is coming in as (previous winner) the New York Gauchos that we expect to blow everybody out, which I think is the exciting part,” Poier said.
One of the biggest draws is the tournament itself for the students of Bedford Road as some entered the high school during the pandemic.
“This year it was important to us because we have a school that the majority of the students haven’t even experienced a BRIT yet. And so it was important to me and the committee that (students) experience what our BRIT is,” Poier said.
There’s some good energy in the building a week before the play-in games, but Poier says there isn’t as much of a buzz compared to previous years because many of the students don’t know what they’re missing.
But momentum is building.
“I’ve seen what BRIT does for our students and just the pride it brings out in them. It brings out the best in all of our students,” Poier said.
The preparation is one of Poier’s favourite parts leading up to the tournament as well, as each school gets its unique panels hanging in the gymnasium.
Poier says before the holiday break, staff will create a giant mess in the gym — making it look unrecognizable — and then she and about six other staff members will put the panels up for when students return in January.
With just a month left to go before the tournament, Poier says there is a lot to be optimistic about.
“It’s so important to the culture of our school,” she said. “I just look forward to it just being a good positive weekend for our students, for our community (and) for the sport of basketball.”