While the boys' team is still practicing, the Comp Eagles girls' basketball team will begin their season this weekend with a tournament in Notre Dame.

Coach Gary Frederickson said the Eagles will be one of eight teams competing in the tournament, which runs on Friday, Nov. 30, and Saturday, Dec. 1. This will be the girls' first tournament, but Frederickson said that, as far as he's concerned, he considers it just to be an exhibition match.

"We're just going to try some things," he said.

The girls who were not involved with volleyball have been conditioning for the past five to six weeks, but practice began two weeks ago.

Frederickson is again coaching the team with his daughter Amy Ferner, as he did last year. That combination worked well with last year's team, who finished sixth for the province in the Top 4A category.

This year, said Frederickson, he expects the team to go far, as they have almost all of the veteran players back, and the newcomers seem fairly advanced.

"We're big. We're experienced," said Frederickson. "I have some fairly high expectations."

The boys' basketball team will begin their season on Friday, Dec. 7, and Saturday, Dec. 8, when they head off to Humboldt. This year's program has faced some difficulty in starting up, however, as they were without a coach until a short while ago.

Local Weyburn resident Duane Dionne, who coached the Comp junior team in the early 1990s, has agreed to step in as coach. Doug Loden, Sandra Madigan and Bob King will serve as Dionne's assistant coaches.

King said practices began last week for the Eagles. The team currently stands at 14 members, but the coaches intend to cut it to 12 players.

King was unsure of the Eagles' chances this year around, as they have only four players from last year's senior team and two from the junior team. The other eight players are all inexperienced Grade 10 players.

"It's going to be a building year," said King. "But we're optimistic."

The boys might also square off against Estevan in a quick scrimmage on Thursday, Nov. 29, but King was unsure if that game will go ahead.

The Comp junior girls' basketball team will also be playing in Assiniboia this weekend. There will be no Comp junior boys' basketball team this year due to a lack of players.