by Stephen Dafoe
The Morinville Orijen Sabretooths have seen a considerable increase in registrations this season. At the close of registration Sept. 8, Morinville Youth Basketball Association had 172 players, an increase of 33 per cent over last years number of 115.
“In our last season, we only had one division (U15 Girls) who had two teams, but now we have five divisions,” said Association Information Management and U15 Girls Coach Samantha Ringuette, adding those divisions are Mites, U11 Boys, U15 Girls, U18 Girls and U18 Boys.
“We were not expecting the increased amount of athletes and are so excited to provide even more kids in Morinville and Sturgeon County the opportunity to play basketball. We have kids as young as 4 playing on our U7 team this year and many grade 12s participating on the U18 teams, which is great to see.”
Association practices begin next week and teams will have two practice sessions ahead of the season starts Sept. 28.
In previous years, Morinville and Sturgeon County athletes playing for the Sabretooths, with the exception of a couple of exhibition games, had to play all of their games in Edmonton. For the first time in the Association’s history, Morinville will host games for the Edmonton Youth Basketball Association.
“The EYBA will hold games at the new Morinville Leisure Centre on weekends, and we encourage the community to come watch,” Ringuette said. ” At this point, we do not know what teams are playing there, and there will be times that there are two teams that are not from Morinville Youth Basketball playing.”
More information on the association can be found on their website at or on their Facebook page.
