Another edition of the Bedford Road Invitational Tournament, known as BRIT, is set to kick off this week.
The long-running tournament will once again feature several of the country’s best high school basketball teams going head-to-head at Bedford Road Collegiate.
Bedford Road RedHawks coach Eric Fahie said the annual tourney is a major highlight for both coaches and players.
“It’s really a one-in-a-million experience to be able to coach at BRIT and to be able to play at BRIT,” he said.
Fahie said the tournament gives students the chance to compete in front of packed stands.
“Just the energy and the excitement the crowd brings is truly what makes the tournament what it is,” he said.
While the big-crowd atmosphere provides lots of excitement, Fahie said his players have to be all-business on the court if they want to hang with the high-calibre athletes they’ll be facing.
“Because the competition level is so deep, you need to be able to play multi-faceted types of games,” he said.
RedHawks’ captain Cody Clinkard admitted the tournament comes with added pressure.
“The crowd is always so packed, so I’m a little nervous,” he said.
Clinkard said the team will have to shut all that out and focus on their fundamentals come tip-off time.
“We just need a team that can work together as a cohesive unit, in the past players wanted to do everything themselves.”
The tournament starts at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, with host Bedford taking on three-time defending provincial champs Leboldus from Regina.
The BRIT Final will also be broadcast Saturday at 9 p.m. on SHAW TV.
-With files from 650 CKOM’s JT Marshall