WATCH: Why this basketball tournament is important for Indigenous communities

• Kids aged 9 to 17 are in Kelowna from First Nations communities across British Columbia
• Event takes place across four schools and runs until March 25
• Basketball is important to many of the kids and teaches them lessons to last a lifetime

For the first time in two years, the Junior All Native Basketball Tournament (JANT) is back in action, welcoming over 800 young athletes from across B.C. to Sylix territory.

The tournament is spread out across four schools in Kelowna.

Tournament director, Tara Montgomery, told Kelowna10, this is the largest tournament the Indigenous communities will attend in the province, and it brings out the best competition.

“They come out and the intensity of the games and fans is a lot. It’s really elevated because they’re competing to make their community proud,” she said. “Communities like Heiltsuk Nation, they live on a little island and the only way in and out of that island is by plane or boat… Them being able to come to this tournament has been really uplifting for them.”

Montgomery said the entire tournament was planned in just five weeks, pieced together in late February after the province lifted restrictions on youth sports tournaments.

She said the event is a “celebration of [Indigenous] children,” and a highlight of the students’ school year.

It also comes at a time when many First Nation’s communities are facing suicide and overdose crises, and the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at residential schools.

“It’s a celebration of sport and really coming together,” she added.

Head coach for the Sylix Boys U17 team, Treyton Waardenburg, said they prepared all year for this tournament, and have high expectations

“We have a lot of Grade 12s this year. We hope to be in the final four for sure,” he said. “We go out there every game giving it our best, regardless of who we’re playing. We’re always out there giving it one hundred per cent.”

He added it’s good for his players to interact with others from different First Nation’s communities across B.C. and it would have been devastating if they didn’t get the chance to compete.

“I know, for our community, basketball is a way of life. In the gym, every weekend, every day if you can be. It just gives these boys a sense of pride of what they’re doing,” Waardenburg said. “I know, as a previous basketball player, I take a lot of life lessons from basketball, and they follow you for the rest of your life.”

The tournament runs until March 25.