The hard courts will be busy on the northwest side of the Queen City this week, with the Rochdale Invitational Tournament (RIT) taking place over the next three days (Feb.2-4) at both the Winston Knoll and Riffel gymnasiums.
It has been a lengthy absence for the tournament as the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out action over the last three years. With RIT returning in 2023, players and fans are excited for the event to return to a normal setting.
Sam Haniak, the RIT Coordinator and teacher at Winston Knoll says this year’s tournament will feature boys and girls teams from Regina including LeBoldus, Campbell, Sheldon Williams, Balfour, Martin along with the two home schools. There will also be squads from Swift Current, Lumsden and out of province teams from Alberta and Manitoba.
Haniak says she has been involved with RIT for the past eleven years and is hoping to the tournament can regain the glory it had in past.
“Roughly back in the day I would say around 2,000 people coming in and out of our schools.”
She also noted that it’s a benefit for the student-athletes to have tournaments like RIT back.
“Our Grade 12s played in RIT in Grade 9 and it was a really exciting tournament, so they’re really excited for it to come back.” Haniak added it’s also great for the younger players who get to experience RIT for the first time.
Besides the tournament, there will also be a three point competition this weekend. With playoffs coming up in March, this weekends tournament serves as one of the final tune ups for all of the teams before the post-season.
Players won’t be the only ones winning this weekend, Haniak says the organizers have a lot of games and draws over the three days to reward the fans attending the games including a bean bag toss game during half-time.
The RIT finals will take place on Saturday at Riffel. The Girls final will tip off at 5:45 and the boys final at 7:30.
