Image credit: CFJC Today/Anthony Corea

By Marty Hastings

CITY HOOPS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Tournament organizer Garvey says new wrinkles bring big-time feel to Fulton Cup

Dec 17, 2024 | 5:19 PM

KAMLOOPS — Barriere gets its shot at the South Kamloops Titans, Kamloops Christian School goes toe-to-toe with the favoured Valleyview Vikes and underdog St. Ann’s takes a swat at the Westsyde Whundas.

Only at the Fulton Cup do those matchups take place, the big-school-versus-small-school tilts that add allure to the annual city high school basketball championships.

“All the schools from across Kamloops, some you don’t get to play against in the regular season, and we play with each other during club season, so it’s fun to play against your friends to compete for the Cup,” said John Hill of the Valleyview Vikings.

The tournament is scheduled to run from Wednesday (Dec. 18) to Friday (Dec. 20) at the Tournament Capital Centre. For the complete schedule, click here or download the Sports Engine Tourney app.

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Tournament organizer Sean Garvey is touting new wrinkles that give student-athletes the professional treatment, including entrance music, starting lineup announcements and a DJ, along with an altered bleacher-seating arrangement designed to boost atmosphere.

“I think that’s actually pretty cool,” said Kahya Duncan of the NorKam Saints. “A lot of us probably won’t go on to play basketball outside of high school, so we’ll never really have that experience.”

There are junior and senior divisions for boys and girls, with 10 schools to be represented — South Kamloops, Valleyview, NorKam, Westsyde, Sa-Hali, St. Ann’s, Brocklehurst, Barriere, Chase and Kamloops Christian School.

“If you’ve got the underdog status and you make an upset, the crowd goes wild, no?” said Samuel Directo of the St. Ann’s Crusaders. “You’ve got everyone saying, ‘Oh, damn. They beat that team? I want to see them again.’ That’s what I love about being the underdog.”

Fulton and Company has increased individual bursaries to $500 and will hand out about $7,000 to students this year, adding to its total of more than $80,000 in a quarter-century of sponsorship.

“It’s great to encourage students to be looking at their post-secondary school options and encouraging them to become, hopefully, not only post-secondary students, but athletes, as well,” said Heather Lloyd, a senior associate at Fulton and Company.