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ELITE 1 Summer League Has Lift Off

Published by Tariq on June 21, 2009

PHASE 1 Basketball will be hosting their1st annual Elite 1’s Professional Development League for current and aspiring professionals from July 3, 2009 – August 15, 2009. This four-team league held at Seneca College, Toronto provides participants with the opportunity to showcase their talents to fans, coaches and scouts. Once a player joins they become a building block of a future paid professional summer league.

Never before has Toronto created a stage where current and aspiring professional basketball players can display their skills in an arena of high expectations. This year PHASE 1’s founder, Wayne Dawkins, has committed to providing professional players, with elite competition and training facilities. As well as exposing amateur players to elite competition, coaching and mentorship in order to assist them in achieving their professional aspirations.

“If there’s one huge gap in our basketball development system in this country, it’s the lack of opportunity for the guys when they finish playing college ball. Wayne Dawkins deserves a lot of credit for pulling this league together,” says Wayne Parrish, President of Canada Basketball, in support of the league. Some of the elite players in this league include Denham Brown, from the University of Connecticut who now plays in the NBDL for the Iowa Energy and Jermaine Anderson, from Fordham University who is now playing for Tubingen Walter Tigers in Germany.

The Elite 1’s league will concentrate on developing an off-season “basketball hub” which supplies a “one-stop shop” for team competitions, skills development, and career mentorship, scouting services, networking opportunities, and training facilities. By doing so Elite 1’s will provide basketball enthusiasts with an opportunity to watch homegrown talent blossom into international stars thus creating an entertaining live basketball environment for Canadian basketball fans during the NBA off-season.

“I’m looking forward to checking out the Elite 1 league at soon as it’s up and running. This country has produced a lot of great basketball players whose talent died on the vine in their 20s because there was just no place for them to play and get better. This has the potential to change that,” says Leo Rautins, Head Coach of the Canadian Men’s National Team, with optimism.

The league will hold an open try-out on June 30, 2009 from 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. at Seneca College, Toronto. All participants who are chosen for the league will play in 10 games, plus 2 playoff games. A select group will also have the opportunity of playing in the league All-Star game on the Civic holiday weekend (August 3, 2009). The Elite 1’s League will also feature full player stats, live web streamed games, player profiles and more.

The first day (July 3) will jump-start with a much-anticipated double-header at 7:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., at Seneca College, Toronto.

–By Crystal Coburn–

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