A standout performance with Team BC at the U17 national basketball championship in Winnipeg earlier this month, has earned point guard Mason Bourcier the honour of being selected as the Active Care Athlete of the Month.

Team BC opened the tournament with a 115-102 win over Nova Scotia – the team which went on to win the tournament – and later lost to Ontario, but won over Newfoundland to finish power pool play with a 2-1 record. A second loss to Ontario in the semi-finals relegated Team BC to the bronze medal game against Manitoba, where they emerged victorious, 92-74. Bourcier netted 15 points and 10 assists in the third-place win.

Bourcier played 151:20 through those five games – over 24 minutes more than any other teammate. He also finished in the top five of four statistical categories among all players in the tournament: third in average assists (6.0), fifth in free throw percentage (81.3), fourth in total assists (30), and fourth in total turnovers (25). Additionally, he was named a first-team all-star at the event – an accolade he’s familiar with, having achieved the same designation four times during the 2015-16 high school season with the B.C.-champion Kelowna Secondary School Owls.

“Mason was the consummate team leader,” said Joe Enevoldson, head coach of Team BC. “When we needed to score, he scored. When we needed to stop someone, he was the guy who wanted to guard the guy we needed to stop. He’s such a competitive athlete, and that really stood out – even among the nation’s elite.”

“It was a really tough tournament,” said Active Care Athlete of the Month Bourcier. ”There were probably five teams that could have won. It was a different kind of atmosphere with all the hype, the fans, the coaches. It was very business-like – all eyes were on us on the big stage, and we had to win. You really have to perform when it’s demanded, and there was definitely a demand that we play to win. I tried my best to play my role – be a good point guard by finding my teammates with the ball when they were open, and taking over the game when I had to. I think I did a good job of doing those things, and it was definitely nice to be recognized for it.”

Bourcier’s former KSS Owls teammate, Grant Shephard, was named a second team all-star at the tournament and finished fifth in average rebounds (8.2). Shephard rejoined Team BC for Nationals after most recently competing with Canada’s U18 team in Chile in late July at the FIBA America’s Championship.

“He adds so much to the game,” said Bourcier of Shephard. “He’s 6-foot-9 and one of the most athletic big players you’ll find in all of Canada. The things he did, we just didn’t have otherwise, so adding him at Nationals was a relief. He would get those extra rebounds that we couldn’t get before, or instead of getting blocked he would be dunking it. He added a lot of key parts to our offence with his athleticism and his height.”

Shephard announced earlier this month that he will not be returning to KSS this fall, opting instead to play out his high school career at Florida’s Montverde Academy. The departure leaves a huge hole for the Owls to fill if they hope to repeat as provincial champions next season. It’s a tall order, but one that Bourcier feels that he and his teammates are up to.

“It sucks, but it also helps in a way,” Bourcier reasoned. “It gives me more motivation to be a leader, and to work harder in workouts and in practice knowing that we don’t have him. We have to be better as a team. We still have a lot of good players like Owen Keyes (also 6-foot-9) and others. I think we have a good shot at winning again.”

After nearly making Team Canada’s U17 himself earlier this year, Active Care Athlete of the Month Bourcier channeled his experience at the national team level in a positive way – using it as motivation to get better and keep the right eyes looking his way while suiting up for Team BC.

“Going there (national camp) was a really cool experience,” Bourcier recalled. “Not only was there tough competition there that I hadn’t seen before, but I gained a lot of motivation, and I got a lot better just in the four days I was there training. Making it all the way through the training camp – being cut was tough, but at such a high level it was still really cool to make it as far as I did. A lot of the players, coaches, and selection committee from the national team were there at Nationals, so it was an extra push to play hard.”

Honourable Mention: Quinci Birker

Coming off a successful summer of beach volleyball, Quinci Birker is looking forward to a familiar trend in the indoor game after announcing recently she will suit up for the UBC Okanagan Heat this fall.

Birker partnered with Darby Dunn of Langley to finish second overall in points on the B.C. Pro Beach Tour after graduating from Kelowna Secondary School in June. Contributing to the lofty perch in the standings was a gold-medal win at the Jim Clive Classic in Vancouver and a bronze at the Parksville Open. Birker and Dunn also finished fourth at the Kits Classic.

A setter/outside hitter on the indoor court with the Heat, Birker is hoping to earn the right to represent B.C. in beach volleyball at the 2017 Canada Winter Games in Winnipeg. She and Dunn played to a gold medal at the Western Canada Summer Games in Fort McMurray in 2015.

Honourable Mention: Jonathan Smart

Defenceman Jonathan Smart got a head start on most of his Kelowna Rockets teammates by representing Canada at the annual Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup in Europe.

Smart, a Kelowna Minor Hockey Association product who was a Western Hockey League bantam draft of the Rockets in 2014, was one of 23 players on Team Canada.

He and his fellow blueliners held the opposition to only eight goals in four games and helped the team to a 3-1 record. Still, Team Canada finished in fifth place among the eight teams.

Smart, 17, has returned to Kelowna and is taking part in the Rockets main training camp at Prospera Place. He played in 44 games last season as a rookie with the Rockets, scoring two goals and adding five assists while posting a +12 rating.