By Ethan Ready

PG Basketball

Northern Bounce hoping talent skyrockets with year of skill development

Aug 12, 2021 | 6:13 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Like all sports organizations, Northern Bounce was no different in spending the past year limited to socially distanced training, essentially focusing on the player’s individual skills rather than team strategy and play. But thanks to lifted restrictions, Jordan Yu and Northern Bounce have been able to get back into league play inside the Prince George Dome.

“Getting back to some normalcy has been great,” stated Yu, the founder and operator of Northern Bounce. “Seeing the kids being able to mentally prepare for games and come into that game mindset, the excitement of play to compete, that’s been the biggest difference I’ve seen.”

While the Ministry is expected to make a decision on BC High School Sports returning this fall, Northern Bounce has helped local basketball players fill that void in the meantime for the past year.

“Being able to provide an opportunity for kids to play year-round has been big for our program. The consistency of play is how kids get better. It’s not just in our practice. I’m hoping kids are taking their ball home and playing. To be a part of the community and to space for kids has been amazing.”

And with spectators now allowed back, the handful of parents that trickle through the Dome’s doors have been impressed at times as well with their kid’s development according to Yu.

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“We’ve seen development over the last year which is the biggest key. We don’t want the kids coming in and not getting any better. I think we’ve seen a lot of development. Now that we have parents back in the gym, to see their faces and some shocked faces because parents haven’t seen their kids play in so long. It’s been great to see the development.”

Overall, Yu knows the players are excited to have games back and basically be putting what they’ve learned and worked on for the past year into in-game scenarios.

“Well, there’s two arts of the game. I think the skill development, you’ve seen in it in everyone,” said Yu. “They’ve raised their level of play. But there is no teaching the game like the in-game experience. It was a little rusty to come back, and there’s a lot of excitement there, but we worked out some kinks there and you could see as the weeks progressed in these games the kids are getting better and better.”

Yu signed a three-year lease for the facility and hopes to improve the ageing facility and bring back all of its user groups.