Basketball camp brings elite coaching to Fort Albany

Players at the James Bay coast high school basketball powerhouse Peetabeck Academy had the chance to further advance their skills during March break, as a southern Ontario basketball camp visited Fort Albany.
Instructors at the Canadian Elite Basketball Academy (CEBA), based out of Cambridge Ontario, spent four days in Fort Albany from March 11-14 running a basketball camp for players on Peetabeck’s boys and girls basketball teams.
Peetabeck coach Justin Sackaney said the camp was a great opportunity for his players to get a different perspective on basketball drills as well as see the benefits of hard work.
“It’s really good for the kids to get a fresh voice and more knowledge of basketball,” Sakaney said. “These guys are pros, they were so knowledgeable and had so many different drills for our kids to learn.”
Sackaney said he had been working to get a basketball camp in Fort Albany for a number of years, so when CEBA contacted him he was more than happy to have them come north.
One of CEBA’s founders, Brandon Mina, said he was extremely impressed by the dedication and hard work that the participants from Fort Albany put into the camp.
Mina said that the youth from the community not only participated in the camp, but spent four long days working extremely hard at developing as basketball players.
“They showed up everyday and worked hard,” Mina said. “Even over four days you could see they had made progress.”
Yet, as he explained, the real benefit for the youth’s basketball careers will come from putting the lessons they learned during the camp into practice over the coming months and years.
“Now that they’ve seen some elite level drills, the responsibility falls on them to put in the work,” Mina said, adding that CEBA plans to return to Fort Albany in August for a pre-season basketball camp and may be able to bring some Fort Albany players to southern Ontario over the next year or two.
For Sackaney, his player’s exposure to elite-level basketball coaching is just another step in the community’s progress towards building a solid basketball program. After six years of coaching both boys and girls high school basketball in the community along with his brother Ken Sackaney, he has seen vast improvements in the levels of play and commitment of youth in Fort Albany.
Late in 2012 the Peetabeck Academy girls basketball team fell one game short of making the provincial championship, but returned home as heroes for being the first fly-in community to ever make the northeastern Ontario championship tournament.
And earlier this year the Peetabeck boys basketball team competed for a spot in the northeastern Ontario championship, coming home with a 2-4 record after beating some bigger schools but falling short of its goals.
Sackaney said the success of the girls team and the potential of the boys shows how, with hard work and dedication, Fort Albany basketball can succeed on the provincial level.
But he noted that success is dependent on commitment. The coaches of both teams require their players to have perfect attendance in school, something the boys team had trouble with this year. Sackaney said the boys team could have many more opportunities for tournaments and games, since they can travel the winter road south at that time of year, but they need to increase their attendance at school in order to convince their coaches they are dedicated to the sport.
Dedication to basketball was something Mina said helped him grow as a person, and he expects it can happen in Fort Albany’s youth as well.
“Basketball has done so much for my life, and we want to be able to provide those opportunities to kids everywhere,” Mina said. “In Fort Albany its tough because it is so remote to get out and play a lot, but its really exciting to see what’s happening in the community and the progress they’ve made.”