LIT cancelled for first time due to COVID-19

For 68 years, the Luther Invitational Tournament has been one of the top high school basketball tournaments in Western Canada.

But like many things during the COVID-19 pandemic, it won’t be taking place for at least one year.

“With the amount of unknowns and the current restrictions that are on with high school sport and, just in general, in the community, the (Saskatchewan High School Athletics Association) sanctioned tournaments and want everybody to be safe, and they just can’t allow for tournaments to be sanctioned,” said tournament director Tory Casper.

“It’s the first time in 68 years. This would have been the 69th year to host this tournament and it’s the first time that it has ever been cancelled. A lot has happened in 68 years and for it to be the first time to be cancelled, it’s too bad. But we also understand that there’s a lot of details at play that are bigger than a tournament, even though there’s so much involved in our community and Regina and even four provinces of teams that come to this tournament every year.”

The 69th edition of LIT was scheduled to be held Feb. 4-6. Casper said tournament officials alerted teams just before Christmas that the tournament won’t be going ahead this year.

LIT features both boys and girls basketball teams from across multiple provinces competing over the course of the event. It’s a tournament put on by the students at Luther College High School, with the students doing all the planning and execution of it.

“It’s really hard. I’ve had numerous conversations with our committee members because, even at the end of October, even though we knew it was a tough chance of having it, we still went through the entire process of getting our Grade 11s and 12s who want to be involved,” Casper said, noting 11 committees had been set up by the students just in case the tournament could go ahead.

Casper said the students were motivated to do something this year to celebrate the long-running event, even though restrictions won’t allow for the traditional tournament. Instead, they’re finding a way to celebrate all the things for which LIT stands.

“The consensus really was that this tournament is more than just basketball. It has been around for 68 years, so we started talking about, ‘What is it that we actually celebrate? Why do we do it?’ ” he said.

Casper said the discussion has led students to toss around ideas such as doing a LIT museum to show off previous moments, alumni video interviews and celebrating the graduating students from all the schools that would have attended the 2021 tournament.

“A lot of it came up that we celebrate the history of the people and the schools and the relationships and all the traditions of all those people in our community and all the students that have been here playing and on committees before us,” he said.

“Having something where our community and our students can be involved in that brings us together. As soon as the opportunity allows us to, our students are very much geared to be involved and do something together, because it’s cancellation mode right now and it doesn’t feel good for students for sure.”