submitted by Dave Wahl--I would like to let people know about an exciting new opportunity for young people on Haida Gwaii. For many, many years Haida Gwaii has been developing talented basketball players. A love of basketball is obvious in any community on this island. Unfortunately, many of the talented players on this island have trouble accessing the elite programs run through Basketball BC because of our remote location. Elite basketball in this province starts with the BC Under-14 provincial team. This team is selected at a tournament each May in Vancouver. Until now, a player from Haida Gwaii would have to tryout for a regional team in Terrace, and then travel to Terrace every weekend to train. Obviously these are huge barriers to overcome for a 13 year old. Basketball BC has recognized how unfair this is and also recognizes the significant amount of talent on Haida Gwaii. For this reason, they have given us permission to enter our own regional team at the provincial tournament in Vancouver.This year we are only entering a boys under-14 team but we have permission to enter our own regional team in the boys and girls under-14 and under-15 tournaments in future years. The players who make the under-14 Provincial Team are often the same ones who make the under-17 Provincial Team three years later. These are then the same players who are recruited most heavily by college and university coaches.The Haida Gwaii under-14 boys team will be coached by Desi Collinson and Duane Alsop. I think it is fitting that this team will be coached by two incredibly talented players who probably deserved to be on the Basketball BC provincial teams when they were in high school. The tryout for this team will be Sunday, April 14 at 10:00 am at the George Brown Recreation Centre in Skidegate. The tryout is open to any boy under the age of 14. Basketball BC charges $25 to tryout for these regional teams and each player who comes to the tryout will receive jerseys, bags and other Basketball BC gear. More information can be found on the Basketball BC website www.basketball.bc.ca