An elementary school in Port Alberni hosted students from Ditidaht Community School for a friendly basketball tournament earlier this month.
École des Grands-cèdres, a francophone school in Port Alberni, invited the students to visit their school on Friday, May 17 and play basketball. Ditidaht Community School is located on Ditidaht First Nation territory near Nitinat Lake, more than an hour southwest of Port Alberni.
The two schools met at an elementary school basketball jamboree in Port Alberni earlier this year. The two teams found that they were evenly matched, as both schools are around the same size and the students are at similar skill levels.
“They had a really great basketball game,” explained Emily MacLennan, the principal of Ditidaht Community School. “The score was tied, and they had a lot of fun.”
After the game, MacLennan got in touch with Marie-Pascale Addison, the principal of École des Grands-cèdres, to arrange another game.
Students from Ditidaht arrived in Port Alberni by bus on Friday morning. Grade 6 and 7 students from both schools participated in an icebreaker session where they introduced themselves, then played a pair of basketball games. In the first game, the teams were divided up randomly. The second game pitted Ditidaht Community School against École des Grands-cèdres.
After the game, students took a break for lunch provided by Bare Bones Fish House and Smokery, then played together outside.
Addison said she hopes that students from École des Grands-cèdres will be able to travel to Ditidaht in the future.
“We definitely want to do this again,” she said.
