Basketball offers bright future for First Nations youth in B.C.

For most peoplebasketball is just a sport, but for many of the First Nations youth at the Native Basketball Festivallastweekend, in Burnaby, B,C.,basketball is a brighter option than some of the choices they might face in their home communities.

"There's only like two choices. There's either drugs or alcohol, which is like that for a lot of people," saidJayson Wing.

"But I chose basketball. And it brought me here and it's keeping me clean."

"I was taken away from my parents at a young age ... just because..of their drinking," said Anna Atilo, abasketball player fromAhousahtFirst Nation.

"Basketball is such a big part of communities ... and if I didn't have it ...I'd probably be doing a lot of the same things.Drinking and drugging."

SimonFraser University, in Vancouver, hosted the Native Basketball Festival. Only in its second year, it brought in teams from Washington State, Alberta, and B.C.32 teams andas many as 300 players, from oldtimers to a whole new generation.

"Where we live, it's our all sport. We playall the time [in]Ahousaht!" said nine-year-oldMaikeli Kalocoukovale.