Watch above: Members of an Australian basketball team participating in a tournament in Saskatoon this week welcome the frosty weather. Wendy Winiewski finds out what it is that encourages the youth to travel 18 hours toward temperatures the locals are flying away from.
SASKATOON – Locals have fought through the bitter cold and are finally seeing some reprieve. Although we may be happy to see the cold weather warnings go, some people are happy to have experienced those extremes.
The Bedford Road Invitational Tournament (BRIT) began Thursday with teams from across the country and internationally coming to compete. Arriving a couple days in advance was the Scots College basketball team from Australia, who were greeted by the cold.
“This would be considered the Armageddon of ‘the world is about to end’ if this happened in Sydney,” said Scots coach David Todd.
READ MORE: Felt like -50 with wind chill in Saskatoon Sunday morning
But believe it or not, that’s what the coach and the entire Australian team wanted. Prior to this, the school attended BRIT in 2012. It was Saskatoon’s mildest winter in recent memory and the team left feeling let down said Todd.
“You talk it up a bit and you know, if it’s going to be cold, you want it to be really cold and get the full experience.”
This time around, Saskatoon didn’t disappoint. The team arrived Monday to an extreme cold warning and got an understanding of wind chill values with Thursday’s gusts up to 60 kilometres per hour.
“It’s pretty refreshing I think,” said Scot Dries, the team’s forward and Friday’s high point scorer.
“I like it. I don’t mind the cold. I think cold is good and I’m enjoying it.”
READ MORE: Saskatchewan team wins 2014 BRIT basketball tournament
“We get to experience a cold week -30,” said point guard Parker Dale.
“A bit of a shock coming from 30 degrees back in Sydney but it’s nice. A bit different.”
Although the cold weather has a few feeling under the weather the Australian team is playing well beating Bedford, the hometown team, 103-27 on Friday afternoon.
Canadian culture and the intrigue of cold weather were factors in agreeing to come to the tournament but the main reason they make the trek goes beyond that.
“There’s a reason why we fly for about 18 hours to get here. The tournament … is nothing that we see back down under,” pondered Todd.
BRIT is known for its high level of play and roaring fans. For the team, the Canadian spirit is considered as much of a motivator as the Canadian weather.
The championship match takes place Saturday at 9 p.m.
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