Monday, February 02, 2009

CIS Corner: GGs-hosted high school tourney at risk

It is a sign of the times, a university basketball team having a barrier to hosting a high school tournament that has been successful over the years.

The Clint Dunning Memorial Tournament, typically held on the final weekend in January at the University of Ottawa, is a major date on the calendar in Ottawa basketball circles. The university is hedging a little on giving it continued support, citing booking issues and the demands of women's basketball and volleyball teams, which is valid.
"The U. of O. men's basketball team may have to pay $2,500 to the university, if it wants to stage the tournament over a weekend in 2010. That is if it can get the gym time." -- Ottawa Citizen
There is a larger picture that the availability of facilities of Ottawa has not kept pace with the university's growth in enrolment. At the same time, it is really something to imagine that there would be not one iota thought given to favouring one of the school's marquee teams. C'est la vie in Canada.

Does anyone know what Carleton's general outlook is on having high school games at the Ravens' Nest? The gym is used for championship games, but the understanding is that the high school league does pay for the privilege.

A hat tip is due to the St. Matthew Tigers and its coach, Jason Wren, for winning the Dunning tourney yesterday. Please keep Tigers star Tyson Hinz' name on file for future reference. He is the fourth-rated power forward in the high school Class of 2009, albeit two spots below Kingston's Owen Klassen.

(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca.)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Funny the Citizen report ignored that Ottawa has added a fourth gym, but not at Montpetit. The Old gym at the former Algonquin College site, now belonging to uOttawa on Lees ave is being used for intramural sports.
I assume it was not mentioned because it is not suitable for the HS tournament.
Ottawa 's enrollment has expanded too fast and they are now playing catch up with all infrastructure. This incident shows they need that new sport complex in the Mann Avenue area.

OttawaFan