The members of the Zone 1 girls basketball team have been selected for the first annual Under 13 provincial basketball championships, to be held in Prince Albert on July 25-27.

The Zone 1 team is coached by Britt Pegg of Weyburn and Grant Edworthy of Regina, and the players include Josie Folk, Chelsey Schiller, Karli Ochitwa, Taylor Molde and Tristyn Lautner, all of Weyburn; Kenedee Charuk of White City; and Madison Ellliott, Leanne Dragan and Carly Miller of Indian Head.

"We're very excited by the response within the nine Sask. Sport zones to our invitation to participate in this annual competition for boys and girls under 13. We believe this will help grow the sport across the province," said Joe Ralko, president of Basketball Saskatchewan.

While the girls team was able to have enough players, there were not enough players to form a boys team from Zone 1.

"We recognize the challenges to field teams at this age group is difficult for some zones and hope the zone will be fully represented in future provincial championships," said Ralko.

Each team at the U13 tournament is guaranteed five games, and medals will be awarded.

The goal of holding the tournament is to provide a positive experience to those who are participating in it so they will want to pursue basketball as a sport. "The U13 championships are a natural progression in building our grassroots athletes in Saskatchewan," said Ralko.

Basketball Saskatchewan is a non-profit organization established in 1978 to help grow the sport, and currently has 12,393 athletes, coaches and officials who are members.