Ross McDonald, former Vike and current Mark Isfeld Secondary basketball coach and teacher has organized the trip for the past three seasons. The trip offers a great opportunity for the upper island basketball community to see some of the CIS' best basketball players in action. The Vikes men will have open team practices for spectators but the biggest draw will be the inter-squad match at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Mark Isfeld Secondary.
"Every team in the CIS is trying to put their team identity together," said Vikes men's head coach Craig Beaucamp. "This is our opportunity to let our team and the athletes find their own identity. The players will have to compete for rolls, find out where they fit and do some goal setting. This trip helps us come together as a team early in the season. We also always try to do something non-basketball like dragon boating or paintball to keep it fun."
The Comox Valley will be in for a treat as the fresh-faced Vikes men boast true cross-Canada flavor in their 2013 recruiting class. In addition to the senior veterans of Chris McLaughlin, Terrell Evans and Reiner Theil, the UVic squad now boasts internationals Marcus Tibbs, from Seattle, and Derek Porter, a third-year transfer from Pierce College, in Kennewick, Wash. In addition, guards Pat Pilato, from St. Catherines, Ont., and Junior Sesay, of Winnipeg, Man., will be key additions to the Vikes line up.
"All of our new additions were all stars on their local high school teams," added Beaucamp, whose team boasts seven new bodies. "They all bring different things to the table and they are very high achievers both academically and athletically."
The Vikes men will camp out at Mark Isfeld school, staying in the classrooms, cooking meals in the cafeteria and working out in the weight room before their inter-squad match.
In addition, Vikes women's basketball head coach Dani Sinclair will be taking her team up island for a similar retreat. The women's team will be camping out in a Mt. Washington chalet for their team bonding activities, while training and hosting an inter-squad match and two girls camps.
The Vikes women's camp will be open for all girls in grade 9-12 and will be hosted on Friday, Sept. 27 5-8:30 p.m., and Saturday, Sept. 28 from 9-1pm at G. P. Vanier Secondary. The Vikes women will play an inter-squad match at 2:30 p.m. that is open for spectators.
The Vikes will begin their Canada West season on the road, facing Brandon, Nov. 1 and Regina on Nov. 2. All games will be broadcast live at http://uvic.canadawest.tv
Saturday, Sept. 28
6:00 pm UVic Vikes men's basketball inter-squad match (@ Mark Isfeld Sec.)
