Nunavut girls hone skills at southern basketball camps

From left, Alysha Maksagak, Danielle Omilgoetok, Linda Howard and Katelyn Wilson at the Point Guard College camp in Ontario. (PHOTO BY KELCEY WRIGHT)

Special to Nunatsiaq News

CAMBRIDGE BAY — Imagine yourself getting a pie in the face and running until you feel like passing out — and enjoying every second of it.

Four high school girls from Cambridge Bay know exactly what that’s like after a summer so far filled with basketball, dance-offs and, of course, pie-throwing contests all across Canada.

“My summer was fantastic!” said 16-year-old Linda Howard.

After winning the 2015 Nunavut territorial championships, Howard along with Katelyn Wilson, 14, Alysha Maksagak, 15, and Danielle Omilgoetok,16, toured southern Canada, attending three youth basketball camps.

The first camp was in Waterloo, Ont., then the student-athletes travelled west to Canmore, Alta., and ended with a camp in Edmonton before finally returning home to Cambridge Bay.

“My favourite city was Canmore. The landscape was beautiful and the town was so comforting and quiet,” said Maksagak. “My favourite part of every camp was the endless laughs and no matter how hard we worked or how tired we were we all had enough energy to make friends, share basketball moves, tell jokes and play games.”

The first camp the girls attended took place at the Point Guard College. The PGC camp is more than 20 years old and more than 60,000 athletes have taken part in its program which incorporates basketball skills with classroom education, all across North America.

“PGC was by far the best camp I’ve gone to, if you truly want to get better in your basketball career and continue it in your life for a long time, PGC will help you succeed,” said Howard. “I didn’t only learn how to be a post guard, I learned how to play each position smarter.”

But it wasn’t all just about basketball during the week-long camp.

“One of the nights, we had a dance off. It was pretty fun,” said Howard. “We had a girls against boys dance off, there was a lot of cool moves thrown out there. I even picked some of the dance moves up.”

However, it’s not the dance moves which the participants said will treasure the most.

“I learned a lot of new tricks both physically and mentally on the court, and I’m so excited to share them with my teammates [back in Cambridge Bay],” said Maksagak.

“I also learned how to get dangerous on the court, and how to successfully attack a zone defense, with engaging two, puncturing the middle, and creating space in the court with equilateral triangles.”

And with new skills to bring to their already winning team, the Cambridge Bay Wolverines are looking forward to next year’s territorial tournament to showcase their summer of hard work.

“We did some great things at camp like learning new drills to take home with us to practice on, they also took time to teach us proper shooting positions,” said Howard.

“I learned a lot about leadership and how I can be a positive role model for my team,” added Maksagak, who hopes to play basketball at Nova Scotia’s Dalhousie University one day. “I learned to lead by example and to push myself, so the others can push as well.”

While the girls were at PGC, Cambridge Bay’s elementary school principal Cathie Rowan was there to chaperone and former coach Nathan Johnson paid the girls a visit — both of whom provided familiar faces during their week away from home in Ontario.

“We made so many new friends which made the camps more enjoyable,” said Howard. “Everyone was so motivating and positive. That’s some of the things I really loved about all the camps.”

After Ontario, the girls headed to Royal Mountain Hoops and NBC basketball camp for another two weeks on the road. And the late-night dance parties continued.

“In Canmore we taught everyone at camp how to whip and nae-nae. I thought that was so fun!” said Howard of a popular hip-hop dance move. “At the end of the camp in Canmore we whipped and nae-nae’d for the parents.”

Now, as the athletes return home from their Canadian tour, they are counting down the days until basketball season begins anew so they can put their new skills to work for real.

“Positivity is one of the biggest things I’m taking home to my team,” said Howard. “I’m going to try and keep our gym loud and positive next year.”