Reintroducing BC's Biggest High School Basketball Tournament
Updated: Mar 7, 2018
For many young athletes in BC, a highlight of their basketball career was the HSBC (or more recently branded Telus) basketball tournament. This was THE tournament of the year that kicked off the season the same way BC Provincials ended it, by bringing together top high school programs from all over the province and give them the chance to compete in an electric atmosphere.
Howard Kelsey, Doug Kelsey, former NBA player Lars Hansen, former UBC Women's Coach Misty Thomas, and Vancouver business icon Randy Sung began a legacy in BC Basketball. They gave athletes, from every participating school, the opportunity to earn a scholarship while playing in a state of the art venue.
“We thought we should manage our own backyard... We wanted to give it a big time college feel, great attendance, and great media coverage” Kelsey explains.
And that, they did. With a void now being created by the tournament not being run in the past few years, BC Sports Hub is proud to reintroduce a tournament with the same scale and impact that its predecessor once had.
The Big Ticket - Presented by Onni has one goal in mind. To build the biggest and best high school tournament in the country. The tournament will include boys and girls with 32 teams at each level (Boy’s Junior & Senior, Girl’s Junior & Senior). Yes, that means 128 total teams. Twenty $1,000 scholarships will be presented by both Venue Kings and Onni, giving a total of $40,000 of available scholarships to graduating athletes. But that is just the beginning, as we look forward to adding several thousand of dollars worth of scholarships in the coming years.
The Big Ticket looks to support kids, their families, and the community.
"We have two great partners in Onni Group, our presenting sponsor, and Venue Kings, a community leader. We look to leverage their contributions to greatly enhance the atmosphere and dynamics of high school sport. Giving out 40 scholarships to some of the most well rounded athletes, on and off the court, will create a fantastic and unique event for all involved" explained Winston Brown, Executive Editor of BC Sports Hub.
Check out The Big Ticket website for more details, as the tournament expects to fill up quickly!
November 26-28th - Opening tournaments
November 30th - December 1st - Finals