Friendship is all well and good, but it’ll have to take a backseat — albeit temporary — to fast breaks and power in the paint this week at UBC.
The second annual World Indigenous Basketball Challenge runs Aug. 8 to 12 at War Memorial Gym, bringing together 24 Indigenous teams from across the world.
While last year’s inaugural event was for the boys only, this year’s rendition includes an eight-team women’s bracket with teams from across North America and Australia.
Two teams from Vancouver will be represented: Team Vancouver — All My Relations and Vancouver Strathcona. All My Relations opens up tournament play Tuesday, Aug. 8 at noon against Australia’s Maal-Ya Indigenous Women's Team. While there’s an air of familiarity amongst B.C. teams, there’s no such thing as a pre-scout when your opponent lives on the other side of the planet.
“We have no idea what to expect from the Australian teams,” said All My Relations team captain Ashlee Raphael. “We’re going in expecting everyone will be really good. We’ve going to have to play really hard against every team.”
A life-long Vancouverite, Raphael’s club is made up of roughly seven regulars who play together in First Nations tourneys across B.C and Washington State.
Scheduling conflicts have prevented the full roster from hitting the court this week, prompting a handful of University of Fraser Valley players to join the ranks.
The vast majority of the club is comprised of Canadian First Nations players — Raphael belongs to the Nlaka’pamux First Nation — though a pair of newcomers have roots in Africa.
“There are new faces, but we’ve known ahead of time that some of the regulars won’t be there,” Raphael said. “We’re building chemistry as we go and everyone seems to work well together.”
Outside of the x’s and o’s on the floor and the spirit of competition, a multi-day, multi-disciplinary exchange of cultures will play out: dances, welcoming ceremonies and a good old fashion meeting of the minds.
Last year’s event kicked off with a welcoming prayer recited by a Haida chief. The closing ceremonies, on the other hand, will feature performances by Haida members, a presentation led by the South Sudanese contingent honouring all 65 indigenous tribes native to that country and a rendition of the haka — a traditional Maori war cry or dance — led by Team Maori.
Outside of that cultural immersion, Raphael is most keen to see how her team stacks against international competition.
“We’re competitors and we normally place in the top two of every tournament that we play in locally,” she said. “We’re going to go out there and try to do that on the world’s stage and see how we match up.”
Admission to the tourney is $5 per day, while kids under 12 get in free. A full tournament schedule is online at indigenousbasketball.ca.
