Their summer just got a whole lot busier.
Danielle Brbot and Riley Brennan, soccer players for the Prince George Under-14 Selects, found out on the weekend they'll also be part of a provincial program in basketball. After a final selection camp in Langley, they were awarded Team B.C. roster spots in their age group.
Now, Brbot and Brennan will have to juggle their soccer commitments with a series of basketball trips. They'll have regular practices in the Vancouver area and will travel to Lynden, Wash., for an international tournament in July.
Brbot and Brennan were two of 38 players invited to the camp. In the end, 24 were chosen for Team B.C. duty and were split evenly between two squads.
"It was a great experience -- I had a lot of fun and this is just a great opportunity," said Brbot, a five-foot-11 post player who attends Kelly Road secondary school.
Brennan, meanwhile, is a five-foot-eight forward who plays her high school ball at Duchess Park.
"I was so excited [about making the team] because I love basketball and I've been playing for years," she said. "This is a great experience and we'll be able to learn more."
Both girls are products of the Prince George Minor Basketball Association. They started playing in the PGMBA when they were primary-level students in elementary school.
Brbot and Brennan were asked to attend the selection camp based on their shining performances at a regional tournament in Vancouver the previous weekend. Louise Holmes, their regional coach, was thrilled when she found out they were Team B.C. material.
"It's a huge deal that they've made the provincial team," Holmes said. "Not many kids from up here make provincial teams and so I was extremely excited and happy about it.
"Both of them have played minor basketball since Grade 3 so they both have all the ball-handling skills from playing minor basketball for all those years. They've both got an excellent understanding of the game and just continue to get better and better."
Down the road, Brbot and Brennan both want to play basketball at the post-secondary level. Brbot's first choice would be to suit up for the UBC Thunderbirds, while Brennan would be equally happy at UBC or Simon Fraser University.
In their other sport, soccer, Brbot is a midfielder and Brennan is a goalkeeper. With the Selects, they are intent on qualifying for the provincial championship tournament, slated for the July long weekend.
Depending on how things unfold, balancing basketball and soccer could be a bit of a challenge.
"It's going to be difficult because we're hoping to get into provincials and so we'll have to try to figure out if we can do all of it," Brennan said.
Prince George's Justin Bennett, who attends D.P. Todd secondary, is a member of the boys Under-15 provincial team.
