Basketball Jones

Basketball P.E.I. excited about new Island basketball team

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

P.E.I.’s entry into the National Basketball will be good for the sport’s growth in the province said Basketball P.E.I. Executive Director Stephen Marchbank.

The fledgling league announced Tuesday the Island will officially have a representative in the basketball league, though there has been no official word on where the team will play out of.

The high caliber basketball will grow the sport across the province, said Marchbank.

“It’s great news for growth and development for basketball across the Island. Obviously never having a pro-team on the Island, this is exciting stuff for us and uncharted territory for us for sure.”

The exposure the professional team will bring to basketball will be a big contribution to Basketball P.E.I., said Marchbank.

“The exposure of basketball to not only Island youth, but to everyone else too. There’s a lot of that aren’t really familiar with basketball, even though it’s the second most popular game in the world,” he said. “Having this pro-team located on P.E.I. will be great, super.”

Basketball P.E.I. president Garth Turtle was excited about the team, but said it was too early to tell how much it will help grow the game on the Island.

“Potentially though, it could increase the level of interest of basketball, one would hope,” he said. “If it is successful then it will be a great benefit to the minor programs in the province creating more interest in kids wanting to play basketball.”

“It could only help,” he added.

Turtle said the association, which has been steadily increasing it’s player numbers over the last few years, is happy the league and owners chose P.E.I. to have a team in the league.

“We’re very supportive of the fact they’re trying to make a success out of it on Prince Edward Island,” he said. “I’ll be one of the first people to buy season tickets.”

Both Basketball P.E.I. officials have had informal conversations with the owners, Duncan Shaw and Darren MacKay, and said they hope to work with the team in the future.

“These guys are skilled players and I’m sure they’ll want to get out in the community and we’d love to work with them and get them involved with the kids in our communities,” said Turtle.

“(Shaw and MacKay) seem really keen to get involved and do some different things to create some excitement around the team and obviously help grow and develop the game,” he said. “It’s just exciting to not only have a team like that come here but have two fellows like those two own the team.”