Indigenous women's basketball team aims to raise funds, help community with limited-edition Game Ball

In her hands, Laura Lewis holds a black basketball illustrated with red roots, a flower, leaves and branches.

For the point guard and her teammates on the All My Relations basketball team, the ball reflects their love for the game and Indigenous representation in sport.

But it also represents the team's focus on support, healing and community.

As part of a new fundraiser, the all-Indigenous women's basketball team is selling its limited-edition Game Ball to fund a trip to a tournament in spring, as well as camps to support youth. 

"Basketball has brought us together, but what really makes us connected is the fact that we support one another," Lewis said.

The Game Ball fundraiser serves as a reminder to, "always remember where you came from, and to always give back to the community that you grew up or live in," she added.

For nearly two decades, the All My Relations team has been based in the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood of Vancouver. The team is made up of 14 Indigenous women aged between 17 and 40, as well as ​​40 alumni, who come from on and off reserves.

Many of the women are single mothers, post-secondary students and community advocates for sports, says Lewis — and many are suffering intergenerational trauma and have relatives or friends who have gone missing.

Team members support each other by taking counselling or doing workout sessions together.

"We essentially don't always get to pick our family. But this is the family that we actually genuinely got to choose," Lewis said.

'Nothing but beauty'

To design the Game Ball, All My Relations partnered up with the Local Collective, an advertising agency based in Toronto. The artwork is inspired by the team's bond, Indigenous culture and its connection to the Earth, said Local Collective managing director Kaitlin Doherty. 

The artwork is split into three parts, Doherty explains: The first is a root that symbolizes the deep roots and relationships that Indigenous culture has to the Earth and its soil.  

The second is the leaves and branches, which reflect how the team grows, supports and lifts its players and the community. 

The last piece is the flower in the centre of the ball, which represents the strength and beauty of Indigenous communities and the power of their perspective, Doherty says.

"It was so easy to design something that beautiful based on their story. There's nothing but beauty inside of it," she said.

'Uplift the younger generations'

Each ball is selling for $100. The proceeds will support the team as they represent Vancouver at the All Native Basketball Tournament in March in Prince Rupert, B.C., where dozens of teams from across B.C. and Alaska are set to compete. 

Depending on how much is raised, proceeds will also support its physical literacy program, which offers basketball camps, youth mentoring and therapy to address trauma. 

The motive is to "uplift the younger generations, and that way they can also aspire to go into post secondary [education] … along with playing basketball," says Lewis.