High school basketball players from Sault Ste. Marie meet Toronto Raptors star
CBC
It was a field trip that students in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., will never forget.
A group of high school basketball players there had the chance to meet Toronto Raptors star forward RJ Barrett at a recent game in Toronto.
The kids are part of the Algoma District School Board’s Alliance Academy, a program which allows students in Grades 9 and 10 to earn a high school credit through basketball and other sports.
Nearly 50 players from Korah Collegiate, Superior Heights and White Pines bussed down for the game on Dec. 2.
Jeff Giovanatti, a vice-principal at Central Algoma Secondary School, previously coached Barrett on Team Ontario and in national team programming several years back and connected him with the academy.
Following the final buzzer of the game last week, students headed down to courtside for a meet-and-greet with Barrett.
Barrett chatted with the students about their basketball ambitions, and they took lots of selfies and high-fives.
As a big Raptors fan, Korah student Tyler Macintosh was blown away by the experience.
“It was amazing. I never thought I’d meet him or any NBA player,” he said.
For Superior Heights student Eva Robinson, it was the first Raptors game she had ever attended.
“This was definitely the best trip I’ve taken,” she said. “I actually didn’t know we were going to meet RJ Barrett. Looking at my own gameplay and looking to see how they’re playing was great.”
The local students are part of a growing Alliance Academy in the Sault.
The program has expanded from the Algoma District School Board’s Hockey Canada Skills Academy, which began in 2018, and has extended to four other sports: basketball, football, soccer and mixed martial arts.
Nearly 250 students across the city’s three public high schools spend their mornings developing skills in their respective sports.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
Ten years ago, Canada responded to the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Syria with an unprecedented program that rapidly resettled 25,000 Syrian refugees in roughly 100 days.
Alberta separatist leaders expect to start canvassing in January to get their independence referendum question on the ballot, thanks to the provincial government’s latest legislation to make it easier for them to succeed.
With the holiday season fast approaching, plenty of people are making a list and checking it twice. But for many in Thunder Bay, Ont., a hot meal is their number one concern of the season.
As Mayor Olivia Chow heads into what could be her final year leading Toronto — or final test before she asks voters to re-elect her in the fall — she’s reassuring ratepayers that they won’t see property taxes rise as sharply as they did earlier in her term.
Health Minister Marjorie Michel says she worries about how recent actions by U.S. public health agencies, like removing a universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendation for American infants, could hurt Canadians’ health.
The Government of the Northwest Territories issued a public health order for Helen Kalvak School in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., after testing found elevated lead levels at some drinking water fixtures.
The school that adults have attended for years in London to upgrade their high school education is being sold with plans in place to move students to a school that restructured in recent years amid controversy.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s acting child and youth advocate has completed a report commissioned by then-premier Andrew Furey more than a year ago about policies and procedures in the child protection system.
Members of Nova Scotia’s forest industry and a prominent environmentalist are welcoming news that the winning bidder for the Northern Pulp timberlands is a local company whose owner they say has a track record of doing right by rural communities.
An error by Fredericton police that thwarted murder prosecutions this year won't result in criminal charges or disciplinary proceedings, but the police chief says a series of recommended policy changes will be enacted.
Another senior in the greater Montreal area has died after being found outside in the cold this week.
A water main break slowed the Friday afternoon commute for some Main Street motorists and prompted the City of Winnipeg to issue an advisory about possible sediment in drinking water.