It appears year-by-year more and more Canadians seem to be making their mark on the mainstream of basketball with a number of recognizable names in the collegiate levels and most recently the NBA.

These successes have predominantly been the product of the growing trend of Canadian athletes taking their talents south of the border to increase their opportunities and exposure by playing against the stiffer competition the U.S. has to offer.

With skilled athletes leaving in flocks the talent drain has affected the quality of high school basketball across the country. The ability for ordinary high school programs to offer the proper tutelage for young athletes to realize their full potential has diminished significantly.

Until recently, Canadian kids were given very little choice as to how to broaden their hoop horizons’. Over the past three years, however, the NPSAA has become a viable alternative route for promising ball players to get the experience and training necessary to compete with their American counterparts.

The league has come from humble beginnings of just a handful of teams to a growing entity represented in multiple regions across the continent. This season will feature squads hailing from Toronto, Brampton, Waterloo, Orangeville, Markham, Thornhill, Quebec City, Montreal, London, Woodbridge, Ajax, North Carolina and Arizona.

With a number of tournaments on the schedule athletes will get an opportunity to showcase their talents to post-secondary programs and receive the proper competition necessary to stay on par with the high profile programs so many kids have been making an exodus for.

Detractors make claims of profiteering and exploiting the participants but what they fail to see is the vast amount of talented kids left on the wayside due to inadequate high school athletics. With the growing number of cutbacks to afterschool programs and sports now more than ever seems to be the time where youngsters who are serious about taking their game to the next level should look at alternate avenues.

What the NPSAA provides is a platform to replicate the American prep school process without having to jettison our youth. From day one the objective of the league was to build a reputable organization where the nation’s best talent and competition could be found but more importantly giving athletes an opportunity to prove their abilities without having to sacrifice being close home.

By expanding its borders the NPSAA continues to give more in Canada a chance to partake. More young athletes from across the country can be liberated from the dregs of local high school basketball. The continued development of basketball in Canada can be attributed to something we as Canadians can call our own instead of the work of our neighbours.