There's no rest for the weary.

It's a term that certainly fits this year, as Whitehorse residents have seen and helped organize numerous Canada Games test events, international competitions, championships and tournaments over the past 12 months.

And hot on the heels of last weekend's Yukon volleyball championships, which saw more than 50 teams competing from across the territory, Whitehorse is playing host once again this weekend, this time to dozens of basketball players from Juneau, Haines and Yellowknife.

Basketball Yukon's (BY) inaugural Road to the Gold Tournament got underway Thursday and runs through the weekend, featuring men's and women's teams from Vanier Catholic, F.H. Collins and Porter Creek secondary schools, as well as Alaska and the N.W.T.

The tournament will also feature up and coming Yukon players participating in BY's Regional Training Centre (RTC) programs.

It's the first time Basketball Yukon has hosted a tournament for high school teams, outside of the territorial championships.

'We're always hard-pressed to get games with Outside teams,' explained Tim Brady, president of BY. 'We were asked on the part of the Yukon School Athletics Association, especially their basketball coaches, to give them some assistance to help put this together this year.

'We thought it was a good idea, that it would be something that would help promote the game of basketball and help showcase and feature some of our local basketball talent.'

Brady said organizers were hoping for 16 to 18 teams in the opening year of the tournament, and they're certainly hoping now that it can grow to that level in the future. BY would like to become more of a leader in the North, he said, in terms of player and coach development, which is also the idea behind the new Regional Training Centre.

'I think we've been on an upswing the last couple of years and we certainly hope to keep going,' he said, adding tournaments like the Road to Gold are the type of thing that will help kids that have interest in continuing with the sport after of high school.

'We're really trying to keep on as level of a playing field as we possibly can with our provincial and territorial counterparts.'

Last summer's juvenile national championships, where the Yukon, N.W.T. and Nunavut sent a joint team, was certainly the first big test under Basketball Yukon's new push for development.

This weekend will provide another opportunity to gage how far away they are from Outside teams, particularly their Alaskan counterparts.

'The thing with American schools that we have learned over the years, is they are fierce competitors,' stated Brady. 'They start, they finish and they play throughout with a lot of competitiveness and aggression.

'Our guys really need to start the same way.'

Brady expected the Juneau squads will be very strong, pointing out they come from a very fundamentally sound system. Haines will also be tough to beat, he said.

'The N.W.T., they're bringing the under-17 development teams here. Both their boy's and girl's teams are very well coached, so I m expecting them to be good.'

On the local scene, Brady said the Porter Creek men's squad will be strong. As defending territorial champions, the Rams have five starters back this season.

'I think F.H. may be a bit of a dark horse,' he added. 'Keep your eye on them.

'We'll see how Vanier does, they're a little bit of an unknown this year. But again, they have a great coach with Sean McCarron.

'He seems to get the most out of those kids consistently. I'm sure that they'll put up a real good battle too.'

The tournament this week is being done in a bracket-style round-robin format, with two pools. It will conclude with playoffs on Saturday at Porter Creek.

Scores for the opening matches Thursday were not yet available. The Porter Creek men's and women's teams took on the N.W.T. while F.H. Collins took on Vanier in both men's and women's action.

Last night, the Juneau Douglas Crimson Bears took on the N.W.T.

This morning, Basketball Yukon's men's Regional Training Centre developmental team played Vanier while the girl's RTC team is scheduled to play Vanier at 4:45 p.m.

Also today, the F.H. Collins men's and women's teams will host the Haines Glacier Bears. The women's game begins at noon while the men's game will follow at 2 p.m., both at F.H.