Team Yukon's Arctic Winter Games girls basketball team is in its beginning stage.

Opening tryouts will take place Saturday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday from 10:30

a.m. to 1 p.m. and Wednesday from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., all at the F.H. Collins Secondary School gym.

The age group for the AWG's girls team is those born in 1993 or later.

"It's going to be really interesting for us, I think, because we didn't have a team this summer, we weren't able to field a team for the Western Canada Games, so we're really hoping we get a good turnout, but it's hard to know because we haven't had that ongoing involvement,” head coach Sarah Crane said.

Crane has been coaching basketball for the past seven years. She started coaching in the Yukon in the past five years. She was assistant coach of Team Yukon's girls' basketball for the 2009 Canada Summer Games held in Prince Edward Island.

Taking the helm of the AWG's team marks her first stint as head coach in the Yukon.

For the tryouts, Crane will use a lot of scrimmages to help in her selection process.

"I want to see them play as much as possible,” she said. "I'm looking for girls who, even if they're not the best basketball, have great attitudes and kids who want to learn and are excited to be on the team.”

Despite the sport's popularity in the high schools, Crane said waning interest at the territorial level is likely "a cyclical thing.”

"The popularity of it goes up and down,” Crane said. "We had a really strong program a few years ago. We've got a really small pool of athletes and we're competing with every other sport for the same athletes; every kid has the option of playing two or three sports and they chose the one that's the most interesting to them.”

It's an issue other sports associations involved with the Arctic Winter Games are having difficulty with.

Table Tennis Yukon (TTY), for instance, has been trying to draw interest from girls in that sport for the AWGs over the past year, and has historically had difficulty in that area. TTY will continue its efforts with another trial starting with registration at 10 a.m. on Sunday at Whitehorse Elementary School.

Those trials, which start at 10:30 a.m., are for boys and girls born in 1994 or later and boys and girls born in 1997 or later.

For basketball, Crane said the AWGs will likely be younger.

Which suits her plans for the future fine.

"I'd be really happy to have that to build a developmental team,” Crane said.

With Whitehorse hosting the Arctics, Crane hopes playing before a hometown crowd will draw more interest.

"I think there are kids out there who want to play basketball. I think it'll come back.

We just had a few down years.

"The Arctics are really exciting, I think, because we've got a chance, the level of competition is much more on par (than competing against the provinces).”

In addition, she is hoping to line-up preparation tournaments Outside.

The 2012 Arctic Winter Games are set to take place in Whitehorse form March 4-10.