What started with a passion and a need in our Basketball Community, has now turned into something special. When the Elite 8 basketball Academy was formed 2 years ago, Ryan Lillington had no idea this day would come. “I saw the need for more skill development in the Summer and just wanted to coach more. When I saw the great programs other Academy’s were doing in other communities, I thought we could start with a summer Skill development program here and go from there”.
Well, two years later and the Academy has been accepted as the newest Member of the Ontario Basketball Association ( O.B.A. ) and Lillington couldn’t be more excited.
“Being recognized by the O.B.A. as an Academy that is creating life changing opportunities for our youth through basketball is amazing. We’re growing our Club Team Programming, while continuing to run our very Popular Jr. NBA Program ( Grades 1-6 ) and our House League 4 v 4 Program.”
Elite 8 is offering Club Team Programming for Boys U13,U14,U15 and possibly U17 as well as Girls U14, U15, and U17. Teams will play in O.B.A. sanctioned tournaments across the province, and most teams will participate in the O.B.L. Teams will also finish the season playing in the Ontario Cup Championships. “We just had our coaches meeting last night and will be looking to bring on more coaches in the near future. We’re very lucky to have the coaches we have now, but there are so many other great coaches in our community, and I’ll be speaking to them soon to see if they can commit to our 2024/25 Club season.”
It’s been a ton of work to get to this point, but Lillington knows the work has just begun. “We have a great team of coaches, parents and others who are excited to put the work in. We’re really excited to offer all of our programs to the kids in our community. Basketball continues to be the fastest growing sport in Canada, so we want to be ready to continue to grow with the demand.”
The Elite 8 Basketball Academy has always supported the other basketball groups in Sault Ste. Marie and that won’t change. “Algoma U, St. Mary’s Small Ball, and Sarah Cameron’s Camp of Champs do a great job with their programs, and we will continue to support them any way we can. The more opportunities our youth have to play this great game the better”. “We also sponsor all of the High School Boys and Girls Live Streamed games on SaultSports TV, and can’t wait for their seasons to begin.”
Try-outs for Elite 8’s Club Teams begin this Saturday at Sault College’s Health and Wellness Center gym as the U13 ( 20012 & 13 ) , U14 ( 2011 ) and U15 ( 2010 ) boys get started. Girls try-outs will begin the following weekend. Announcements will be made on all of Elite 8’s social media pages.
“We just found out recently about our O.B.A. affiliation, so things are happening fast and furious, but we’re ready”.
Any questions about the Academy or any of their programs can be forwarded to Ryan Lillington at elite8basketballacademy@gmail.com.
