Abbpotsford/Niagara ON: The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) announced the launch of the CEBL Academy pilot program Tuesday, designed to encourage participation and development of basketball at the grassroots and elite levels across Canada.
The first CEBL Academy facility is set to open in early 2021 in Abbotsford, home of the CEBL’s Fraser Valley Bandits. With a focus on fun and community, this multi-sports facility will be accessible to diverse ages, skill-levels and sporting groups. It will feature three sport courts of varying sizes for multi-sport use across a variety of athletic disciplines, including but not limited to indoor basketball, volleyball, soccer and more. The space will also have netted laneways for sports such as baseball and softball, as well as a strength and fitness area for conditioning and weightlifting.
The Fraser Valley Bandits will reveal further details about this facility in the near future.
The CEBL is preparing for its third season in 2021 following the success of this past year’s CEBL Summer Series in St. Catharines, Ont., which saw millions of viewers across Canada and around the world tune in starting July 25 to watch 26 games played over 15 days in a single-site league competition. The CEBL became the first professional sports league in Canada to return to play after the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in mid-March shut down sports across the country.
A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL has the highest percentage of Canadian players of any professional league in the country, with 80 percent of its current rosters being Canadians. Players come from the NBA G League, top international leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. The only First Division Professional League Partner of Canada Basketball, the CEBL season typically runs from May through August. More information is available at www.cebl.ca.
