Two former Charles Hays Secondary School Rainmakers are heading to nationals for college basketball.
Kai Leighton of the Vancouver Island University Mariners and the Camosun Chargers’ Eric Lees will be making the long journey to New Brunswick with their respective teams for the annual Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Men’s basketball championships.
The Mariners edged out the Camosun Chargers in a 71-64 victory which saw the Nanaimo-based college win their seventh Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST) title in 15 years. While Lees’ Chargers were only able to muster a silver medal, they qualified for the CCAA nationals through a wild card spot.
Lees highlighted the importance of Prince Rupert coaches such as Ryan and Mel Bishop, Kevin Sawka and Gerard Dolan in giving the kinesiology student the necessary skills to succeed at such a high level.
“They’ve done a beautiful job at shaping an incredible basketball community and Prince Rupert and have given just incredible coaching to many, many phenomenal athletes that have come out of Prince Rupert,” Lees said.
“It’s given us the mentality and given us opportunities to step onto bigger stages, play against very good competitors and have really sound basketball fundamentals.”
Leighton said the youth programs in the basketball-crazed town were also seminal to his young career.
“I’m simply a product of my environment. I’ve had so many great coaches all throughout middle and high school, so hopefully I can get this one for them,” Leighton said.
With such a rich history of basketball on the North Coast, Leighton said he was able to look toward other success stories of Prince Rupert hoopers.
“Basketball to me growing up was an outlet, it was just fun,” the forward said. “Then it turned into something that I used as a competitive outlet and it was really nice because we had a lot of guys... to look up to, I didn’t have to really create a path I could just follow a path that had already been walked on.”
For Lees, the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre and its gym became a sanctuary to develop his basketball skills during Prince Rupert’s rain-filled winter months.
“The winters are dark and rainy, and it doesn’t really permit for a lot of outdoor activities,” Lees said. “So basketball was an incredible outlet to be in a nice heated area where you could have fun with your friends, compete and obviously work on your mental and physical craft.”
This year’s national tournament will be Leighton’s fourth, though he is yet to win any hardware.
Lees will be eager to begin his first national tournament in his four years at Camosun. Both players have one year left of eligibility in the CCAA.
“I feel like we’ve got that chip because we’ve been to nationals every year that I’ve been here and we just haven’t been able to get over the hump yet,” Leighton said.
“But this is a really cohesive group. We spend a lot of time around each other. So I’m just really excited for what we’re going to bring next week.”
Lees said that while he and his teammates have high expectations, simply being able to play against the best teams in the country is exciting.
”I’m hoping that we can obviously do the best we can, I would love to see our team win this national title. But I think I’ll just continue to say competing at this stage is just a blessing in itself,” said Lees.
Both the Mariners and the Chargers begin nationals on Wednesday, March 13. The Chargers will face off against the Keyano Huskies of Alberta, while VIU will play the Toronto-based George Brown Huskies.
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