Raptors success sees ‘boom’ in kids basketball camp enrolment

Toronto Raptors mania may be coming to an end on the television screen, but it may only be starting on the court.

Brian North, camp director with Young Athlete Saskatchewan (YAS), said interest in his basketball camps have increased as a result of the Raptors’ success in the NBA Finals.

“It has just been a boom,” North said Monday. “Honest to goodness, I don’t know how many phone calls and emails we’ve had since the middle of last week. I would say it’s up about four times as much and from people who were not really familiar with basketball.”

YAS created summer basketball camps for kids to play the game, have fun and work on their basketball skills. There are 16 camps in Regina that run every weekday during July and August.

Lana Siman, a basketball coach at Ecole Monseigneur de Laval, agrees that the sport has certainly grown over the years but has noticed a particular interest in basketball due to the Raptors victory.

“It has just instilled such a belief in (students) that maybe they could be the next Pascal Siakam,” said Siman, who added that Canada has an untapped talent pool.

“We’ve always had the talent, but if it takes us actually winning to exploit it where they can be showcased and actually chosen and scouted … it’s fabulous.”

Stephen Shields, office administrator at Basketball Saskatchewan, has also noticed more kids interested in the sport, including a higher attendance rate at Saskatchewan Rattlers games. That’s Saskatoon’s team in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL).

“We’ve had a ton of emails into the office of parents inquiring just as to where and how they can get their children involved in the game,” he said.

Shields added that Basketball Saskatchewan is looking to add more grassroots level camps and working with rural areas to welcome the expected increase of players.

“We’re partnered with all the minor basketball associations around the province,” Shields said. “At this point now we’re just waiting for those kids to start coming now, because I think there’s going to be a major interest in it.”

Not only are children embracing basketball, but North added that adults are becoming increasingly interested, due to the simplicity of the game.

“Basketball is both inexpensive and flexible,” North said. “What do you need to have fun at basketball? You can do that all by yourself. You can go out on the driveway. You can be in your bare feet. All you need is a ball and something to shoot it into.”

North is optimistic about what the Raptors’ success has done in creating a new generation of Canadian basketball talent.

“What the Raptors have done is they have just raised up in front of people what a great fun game basketball is,” he said.

Siman agrees that basketball in Canada is at a turning point and, more importantly, how the game has brought the country together.

“The fact that it rallies West Coast to East Coast, English to French, immigrant to natural-born Canadian, it was just something we never experienced before,” Siman concluded. “If it takes basketball to do that, that’s what it’s all about.”