DAVIDSON—The gymnasium at Davidson School has become headquarters to the under-14 boys basketball team that is bound for the Saskatchewan Summer Games.

The team will represent the Prairie Central Zone at the games, where they will compete July 29 to Aug. 2 in Meadow Lake.

The trip has ensured that some local boys and their coaches will get to extend the basketball season well into the summer.

Tryouts for the team finished April 29 at Davidson School. Ten players were selected to represent the zone. Four of the boys are from Davidson: Huck and Mark Rettger, Ben Nykiforuk and James Morrison as well as Austin Evans from Kenaston. The remaining players are from Lumsden, Osler, Humboldt, Langham and Wynyard.

Kim Rettger is head coach of the squad. Assisting him are Raiders basketball alumnae Ian Kadlec, Luke Edwards and Scott Sigfusson.

“I’m excited to have these guys help. The boys relate to them a whole lot more than they do to me,” Rettger said.

“We have some good talent,” Rettger said of the team.

He was especially excited when a Grade 8 student from Osler walked into the gym the first day of tryouts. The eighth grader stands 6’4”.

“He walked in and looked Luke Edwards right in the eye,” Rettger said with a laugh.

Better still for the Prairie Central team is the kid from Osler can play ball.

Rettger said he wound up coaching Prairie Central’s team for the Summer Games by “sheer coincidence”. He was looking to enroll his son Mark in a summer league when it was suggested to him that Mark should tryout for a team going to the Sask. Summer Games.

“I discovered they had no coach,” Rettger said, so he gave it a try.

“So far it’s been terrific. We have nice kids on the team.”

The team will practise at least once every two weeks, mainly at Davidson. Rettger said they’ll also look to practise in gyms in other communities when the Davidson gym isn’t available.