Announcing the Canada Games Prep Teams & Circuit - Summer 2021

2021-03-26

2017 Men\'s & Women\'s Canada Games

With the postponement of the 2021 Canada Summer Games, cancellation of the 2021 Canada Basketball 17U and 15U National Championships and uncertainty around health restrictions related to intra-provincial competition in the summer of 2021, Basketball New Brunswick is announcing the formation of Canada Games Prep Teams and the Canada Games Prep Circuit.

Play with the best, For the best, Against the best

What are the Canada Games Prep Teams?

Regional teams of approximately 20 athletes per gender, selected through the Sr. Elite Development Program who will train out of one of three different areas - CGP South, CGP CentralWest and CGP NorthEast.

The teams will be led by Provincial Team Coaches with practices on weekends and/or weekdays before splitting into two groups of approximately 10 players to take part in four Canada Games Prep Circuit weekends. This will allow for guaranteed games in the Prep Circuit along with flexibility to schedule additional games against other suitable intra-provincial competition, should public health restrictions allow.

Teams will begin the weekend of June 5th and conclude with a Prep Circuit Finale event August 1st.

Players will have access to an extended version of the current Gold Medal Performance Program which will provide them with a holistic performance program which includes strength and conditioning, performance nutrition, sports psychology and access to other sport science and performance experts.

What is the Canada Games Prep Circuit?

A series of scheduled games taking place between the regional Canada Games Prep Teams which begins as early as the June 12th weekend and concludes on the August 1st long weekend.

Each of the three Canada Games Prep Team areas will split into two teams to make for six competitive teams per gender and competition will take place on four different weekends. This allows for each player to play a guaranteed eight games in the circuit, with and against the best players in New Brunswick.

Teams will be split differently each weekend to allow different players to play with and against each other.

What are they saying about it?

Neil Smith – Technical Director for Basketball New Brunswick

“With uncertainty around the public health restrictions this summer and the lack of National Championships, we wanted to put together a top-notch training environment for the best players in the province while recognizing that they need the best competitive opportunities as well.

The summer of 2022 is looking like the busiest we’ll ever have where we may be fielding an 18U Canada Games team along with our usual 15U & 17U National Championship teams and 15U/16U PTP program, we knew we needed to have a format that captures as many players as possible this summer in a way that fits our Team NB philosophy – play with the best, for the best, against the best.

The Canada Games Prep Teams and Circuit allows our players to have great local training environments, with regular games against the best players in New Brunswick and still allows us to compete against other provinces later in the summer if they form teams and health restrictions allow.”

More questions?

Email us at info@basketball.nb.ca