Damon Dutton has experience going up against other basketball players from around Canada.
This time, he鈥檒l be doing it on a much bigger stage.
The Grade 11 student at North Battleford Comprehensive High School will be part of Saskatchewan鈥檚 team that will be competing at the 2017 Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg from July 29 to August 4.
鈥淚t鈥檚 started to settle in a little bit that I鈥檒l be going there and I鈥檓 really excited about it,鈥� Dutton said.
鈥淚t鈥檒l be a bit of a different atmosphere than the national tournaments I鈥檝e been to in the past, which should make the whole week a pretty memorable one with all of the athletes there from the other sports.鈥�
Dutton is one of three players on the 12-man roster that doesn鈥檛 reside in either Regina or Saskatoon.
The other two players who aren鈥檛 from those two major centres are Moose Jaw鈥檚 Jett Kowlachuk and Matthew Mandziuk of Yorkton.
鈥淲e鈥檙e pretty sure that this is the first time that someone from our school has gone to the Canada Games to play basketball,鈥� Vikings senior boys basketball head coach Jamie Sommerfeld said. 鈥淭he perfect storm has to happen for that to take place, especially with the event taking place every four years.
鈥淒amon鈥檚 at the top end of his age group and he鈥檚 had the drive and dedication to take part in the extra camps to give him a chance to be on the Saskatchewan teams. As well, I think the fact that our school has started to play at the 5A level at Hoopla has really helped give him and our other players more exposure.鈥�
Dutton, who also plays football for the Vikings as a starting quarterback, played for Saskatchewan at the U15 national championships two years ago in Halifax.
鈥淪eeing the other players from around the country really helped me to focus on what I needed to do in practice to make sure that I was in good shape to play against them,鈥� said Dutton, who will be playing mostly on the wing at the Canada Games.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been together as a group for quite a bit now and we鈥檙e a pretty unselfish team. It doesn鈥檛 matter who scores the basket. We鈥檙e all on the same page and we don鈥檛 want to take any possessions off.鈥澛� 聽
Saskatchewan鈥檚 first game will take place on Saturday, July 29 against the Yukon.
