Player 'grateful' for 1-day provincial high school basketball championships despite Hoopla cancellation
Hoopla cancelled because of ongoing job action from Sask. teachers
Saskatchewan's top high school basketball players had a chance to finish out their 2024 season this weekend, but not in the way that was originally planned.
The Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association hosted a one-day provincial basketball championship Saturday in Moose Jaw.
The event was a compromise organized after the cancellation of Hoopla, the annual provincial championship tournament, due to the ongoing contract impasse between the provincial government and the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation.
The STF announced earlier in the week that teachers would not participate in extracurricular events Thursday and Friday, meaning Hoopla couldn't go on. Students and community members protested across the province this week to save the tournament, but the union and the government did not reach any sort of agreement and continued to blame each other for the cancellation.
The job action was not in effect Saturday, so organizers were able to put together the one-day replacement.
Deana Kempel is the principal of Riverview Collegiate and also one of the organizers of the tournament.
"The school is packed, the gym is just like got an electric atmosphere and you can see that students and families and teachers and referees, everyone's excited," said Kempel at Riverview Collegiate on Saturday.
"The opportunity to do this for the kids, even if it's on a smaller scale, you know, we pivoted and we went with it because that's what we do and we love to do this."
Kempel said she's heard from the students and says many of them were disappointed by the cancellation of Hoopla, but that a lot of them stood with teachers and were supportive of the compromise.
Player thinks about what-ifs
Kayla Desjarlais plays on Norquay's girls team, which won against Lutheran Collegiate Bible Institute for their single game on Saturday.
She said one game was better than none, but it still left a lot of what-ifs in her mind.
"We went out there strong and we kept our heads up the entire game and I feel like if Hoopla was the three-day weekend, we definitely would have went into the finals," said Desjarlais.
Desjarlais said she wants to keep playing basketball beyond high school, but is afraid the one-day tournament could hinder those chances.
"I'm grateful that it is a one-day and not cancelled fully, but a three-day would be a better opportunity for us athletes, for my future,' she said.
"It's kind of just upsetting that it's just one day and there's so many scouts out there looking for names."
Overall, Desjarlais said she was just glad she was able to play on the team with her best friend.
By the end of Saturday the final list of champions for the girls divisions were: WIlkie (1A), Preeceville (2A), Langian (3A), Meadow Lake (4A) and Regina Leboldus (5A).
Then for the boys their division champions were: Legacy Christian Academy (1A), St. Brieux (2A), Regina Christian School (3A), MJ Central (4A) and Saskatoon Walter Murray (5A).
A full list of team standings in their respective divisions from the tournament can be found on the SHSAA's website.
Tournament compromise
For Saturday's event, each team that qualified for Hoopla was invited to play one game, with pairings determined by what the seeding would have been if Hoopla had happened.
The games took place across four schools in Moose Jaw Saturday.
Saskatchewan teachers have been without a contract since August. Bargaining on a new contract remains at a standstill as both sides refuse to budge on the issues of class size and complexity.
The STF has said it will return to the table if the government agrees to negotiate on these issues or go to binding arbitration on them.
The government has remained adamant that these issues should be dealt with at the school board level, not in the teachers' contract.
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With files from Shlok Talati