In the Philippines the sport of basketball is widely regarded as the most important sport in the nation.
Much like hockey is in Canada, basketball in the Philippines has become a staple, a necessity, and a lifestyle.
So it should come as no surprise that the Parkland Filipino-Canadian Association, Inc. (PFCAI) has been using basketball as a means to share their culture and develop friendship. “Basketball is the number one sport in the Philippines and when you’re here you can see we all have a passion for the game,” said Parkland Filipino Basketball League (PFBL) spokesman Orvin Pineda, adding that even though there may sometimes be a language barrier between Filipino people and Canadians, basketball helps everyone to communicate and understand one another. “We’re building a good relationship with other people in the community here. We don’t care how old or how young you are or where you’re from.
“As long as you want to play you can play and you can join the league at any time before the season begins.”
And apparently people in Yorkton and the surrounding area want to play as the league has seen growth each and every year, starting with five teams in 2015 and evolving to a ten team league for the 2015 summer season. “Most of them come from other towns like Russell, Canora and Roblin/Dauphin,” mentioned Pineda, adding that they also turned down three other teams due to registering too late for this season.
But the of the growth of the league as well as the interest from the surrounding communities has opened a door for the PFCAI to approach the City of Yorkton in regards to funding, something Pineda says they hope to do in the coming year. “Next year we’re planning to talk to the City of Yorkton to help us fund the league,” offered Pineda, himself a member of one of the Filipino/Canadian basketball teams. “This is an attraction for the City of Yorkton. We bring people in from other towns and they spend money here because of the basketball.
“We’re going to try to talk to the City of Yorkton and if this continues and the number of teams continues to grow we might change the name to the Yorkton Basketball League or something else.”
Game action
If anyone is interested in taking in some of the Parkland Filipino Basketball League games, the league plays from 1:00p.m. to 5:00p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Sacred Heart High School.
