By Adam Donnelly

The more Kamloops high school basketball changes, the more the Fulton Cup remains the same

Dec 18, 2018 | 3:12 PM

KAMLOOPS — For the past 20 years, the Fulton and Company Cup has kicked off the High School Basketball season in Kamloops. The annual basketball tournament starts on Wednesday and while it takes place early in the season, it acts as an unofficial city championship giving the winners early season bragging rights.

“This is year 21,” Tournament Organizer Will Blair told CFJC Today at the press event last week. “It’s such a tradition now. every year, the last three days before the holidays, it’s Fulton and Company Cup time.”

While technology has changed the way these players interact with each other off the court throughout the year when the ball is tipped off those old rivalries still exist.

“I think the competition is different now because of social media, Blair explained. “I think the players are a lot closer to one another now, texting with each other, and also on Snapchat and Facebook and whatever… The competition is different, but it’s still there. There are bragging rights.”

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Samuel Jean, Grade 12 player from SKSS agrees.

“We all play here [at the TCC] all the time, we all know all the guys,” Jean said. “It’s a lot of fun to play against teams that aren’t necessarily in your division… AA or AAA. We all just get to play each other and have fun and see where we rank against each other.”

With the South Kam Titans taking the floor at the TCC as the defending Provincial Triple-A Champions, Grade 12 player Samuel Jean says his squad needs to come prepared to play if they want to hoist the hardware at the end of the competition.

“With us winning provincials last year, people might come to prove that they can beat a provincial-winning team,” Jean said. “We’re definitely going to need to play hard to show that we’ve still got it.”

Over the years Fulton and Company have sponsored the tournament, they’ve given out more than $70,000 in bursaries to the student-athletes who’ve competed. Tana Jones played in the tournament when she was in high school, and now has the privilege of working for Fulton and Company.

“It’s something that I believe was near and dear to the hearts of the original partners that were being it,” Jones said. “A lot of our lawyers have participated in sports at all levels; we have a Paralympian in the office, we have men that still play men’s league basketball… we’ve all had really good experiences with [sports], so we really want to see the kids in Kamloops experience that.”

The tournament tips off Wednesday afternoon and will feature Sr and Jr Girls and Boys teams from across School District #73. The winners will be crowned Friday at the Tournament Capital Centre.