The pre-season can be predictable.
Workouts. Off-court sessions. A tournament here, some games there.
For many involved in the Maritime Women’s Basketball Association, this is going to be a pre-season event like never before thanks to connections with the Mount St. Vincent University Mystics of Halifax.
The Mystics, perennial contenders in the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association, are off to Yellowknife, NWT, part of a six-team North of 60 Classic women’s event Oct. 7 to 13 that is much more than a basketball tournament.
It’s a cultural experience for all the players involved. An educational experience.
An opportunity to see a beautiful location, home to some 22,000 residents approximately 400-kilometres from the Arctic Circle.
Mark Forward is the head coach of Mount St. Vincent.
Forward was instrumental in being a part of the MWBA formation and has been either head coach or co-general manager of the league’s Halifax Hornets since inception in 2022, part of the inaugural PROLINE Legacy Cup championship organization.
His Mystics will be the only Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association team in the tournament. Mount St. Vincent joins Ontario’s Lakehead University ThunderWolves of Thunder Bay, University of Toronto Varsity Blues and Laurier University Golden Hawks of Waterloo, Alberta’s University of Lethbridge Pronghorns and British Columbia’s University of Victoria Vikes, all members of U SPORTS.
‘Our athletes and support staff are understandably very excited about this opportunity that awaits,’ said Forward, who announced his departure from the MWBA after five productive seasons. ‘We understand the basketball level is going to be a huge challenge for us playing against U SPORTS teams, but this trip is about much more than results. It truly is. What an opportunity to explore a part of our country and support women in sport on so many levels.’
There will be the odd MWBA story told at some part of the trip.
Forward and his Hornets’ assistant coach Chloe Oxner will have league company with the Mystics. Sasha Dabb, a transfer to MSVU from the University of New Brunswick Reds, will wear her new colours to Yellowknife. MSVU’s Elissa Bryce, a member of the MWBA’s Port City Fog of Saint John.
Lily Newberry and Nykeva Wilson-Brown, both members of the Mystics, are also on the flight to Yellowknife. Wilson-Brown transferred to MSVU from ACAA rival Holland College Hurricanes.
Both Newberry and Wilson-Brown played in the MWBA last season with the Truro Tidal Queens.
For Newberry, it’s going to be a homecoming.
She is one of four Yellowknife athletes who get to come home and play in front of friends, family and young basketball players.
Newberry will join Janet Enge from University of Toronto and Lakehead teammates and twins Kaylie and Mia Locke-Setter.
North of 60 organizers had a clear vision when designing the tournament.
They wanted a bridge between U SPORTS and CCAA athletes to Northern youth through ‘sport, mentorship and cultural connection.’
Northern youth, especially young girls, have faced barriers that many athletes in the South never have to consider, said the tournament description and reason behind it.
‘Limited access to elite competition, coaching, and exposure often means leaving home in search of opportunity,’ noted the group. ‘The North is filled with talent, resilience, and potential. So instead of continually asking our athletes to travel thousands of kilometres to experience high-level sport, we asked a different question: Why not bring that opportunity North?’
And there you have it.
With one in three girls dropping out of active athletics by the time they reach their late teens – and by age 16 as many as 62 per cent of Canadian girls not playing a sport at all – North of 60 becomes a valuable tool of saying ‘you can achieve this.’
Long Term Athletic Development, indeed, buoyed by watching local products play at a high level and witnessing the level of talent in this country at the university level.
Combing education and athletics?
Win-win.
‘There is so much more than basketball involved, whether you read the numbers of women pursuing athletic activities or giving back to their communities through sport,’ said Forward. ‘We feel incredibly honoured to be the only CCAA team at the tournament and we play University of Toronto out of the gate and Lethbridge before coming home. This will be experience remembered for a long time. Results might matter initially, but years from now, they won’t. We are more than happy to be playing our part. We’re incredibly happy for Lily to be able to see where she was brought up and developed and to represent our university.’
You can view more by checking https://northof60classic.ca/
The MWBA salutes North of 60 organizers and the competing teams for this opportunity.
– MWBA’s Lily Newberry of Truro is heading home with her Mount St. Vincent University team in October. (DW Photo)
