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Nanaimo b-ball team will tip off at major masters’ tournament

The Nanaimo Masters basketball team is entered in the Americas Masters Games, to be held in Vancouver starting today (Aug. 26).

They've still got game, and they’ll try to bring it to an international tournament this week.

The Nanaimo Masters basketball team is entered in the Americas Masters Games, to be held in Vancouver starting Friday (Aug. 26).

The multi-sport event features 22 different competitions at various venues, with most of the basketball to be held at the University of British Columbia.

The Nanaimo Masters haven’t played men’s league basketball for a few years, but still play pick-up games amongst themselves and had seven or eight practices this summer to try to prepare for the Americas Masters Games.

“It’s kind of hard, you have people with kids, families, whatnot … We’re trying to stay in shape as much as possible,” said Brian Lennox, one of the players.

The team has travelled to several international tournaments over the years and finds the level of competition can vary greatly. So players don’t know exactly what to expect in their division this week.

“It would be nice if every team’s kind of like us, with a mixture of players that played post-secondary and others who played high school and some just like playing, keeping in shape,” Lennox said. “Three or four of us played together at VIU and one, at least, made it to the B.C. final in the early ’80s, so we have some people who were good … There’s people who can shoot a little bit, a variety of people who can do everything.”

sports@nanaimobulletin.com