The 14th annual Centennial Chargers Charity Classic (C4) will begin this morning in Saskatoon.
The tournament runs from Dec. 12-14. Its main goal is to raise money for charity before Christmas break.
Over the last 14 years, the tournament has raised over $30,000 for various charities and other worthy causes throughout Saskatoon.
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This year, proceeds from the tournament will be donated to the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation and Centennial Collegiate’s ACTS of Kindness Project.
“We should probably be able to donate another $10,000 after our tournament this year,” said tournament co-organizer Erin Brimacombe.
A full tournament pass is $25 and a day pass goes for $10. Money from ticket and concession sales will be donated.
This year’s tournament will welcome 14 high school basketball teams from across the province. New this year is the addition of six girls’ teams for the first time in the history of the tournament.
Considering there is only one gym at Centennial Collegiate, Brimacombe is expecting the school to be very busy for the next three days.
“We’ve got 14 teams from Weyburn, Prince Albert, North Battleford, across the province and across the city,” Brimacombe said. “We’ve got all our volunteers lined up, the referees are ready and as long as our teams show up, I think we’re ready to go.”
The tournament tips off at 11 a.m. with the Centennial girls team hosting Evan Hardy Collegiate. That will be followed at 12:45 p.m. with the Centennial Collegiate boys hosting A.E. Peacock Collegiate from Moose Jaw.
Even though it will be a day game to begin the tournament, Brimacombe suggests the gym will be packed throughout the weekend.
“Some families will travel in, we also invite our feeder schools — which are the elementary schools from the neighbourhood — so we have about 300 students coming from our feeder schools for our feature games with the first boys game and first girls games,” she said. “The gym holds about 800 people and for those games during the day it will be jam packed.”
Games will be played throughout the day with the championship finals concluding on Saturday night. The girls tournament on Saturday night will be played at 6 p.m. followed by the boys final at 8 p.m.