Staff Writer
BRISTOL, N.B. – Sports fans don’t have to travel all the way to Beijing for international competition this summer. The Potato Valley Basketball Camp will host the first annual Can-Am Shootout at Carlton North High School featuring camp teams and high school boys’ varsity teams from Easton, Central Aroostook, Hodgdon and Houlton. “The goals are two fold,” explained camp director Sean Casey. “First, to offer some athletic competition for the local kids. Secondly, I’m from Maine but I graduated from a Canadian college and I have relatives from Canada. We have the world’s largest unguarded border and have the closest trade partnership. We have such a history of combined heritage, and it’s important to keep that relationship going.”
The young athletes will have the chance to work on their basketball skills, and get to know each other.
“It’s to improve the athletic competition and give people a healthy awareness of each other,” said Casey. “At the end of the games, we’re going to bring in pizza and allow them a chance to talk.”
Casey hopes to organize a girls’ shootout to add to next year’s games. “It’s our first year doing it this way, and we hope to see it grow and become even more exciting,” said Casey.
All evening scrimmages will take place at 7 p.m. from July 7-10. Easton will play on Monday, Central Aroostook on Tuesday, Hodgdon on Wednesday and Houlton on Thursday. There is no admission for the games.
For more information about the camp and the scrimmages, contact Casey at spcasey44@yahoo.com.
