Hoop dreams come true:Toronto Raptors give $50K grant to Indigenous basketball program

The Thunder Hawks Indigenous basketball program at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School in Thunder Bay, Ont., has scored a slam dunk.

The school, which is run by the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council, was awarded a $50,000 Toronto Raptors Community Action Grantto help promote the sport both in the classroom and in the 24 remote First Nations communities it serves.

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"I'm on top of the world," said Aaron Guthrie, the coach of the boys basketball team at the schooland the healthy active living teacher.

"We're really excited, we're really thankful and we've got some big plans of what we're going to do with that money."

The boys basketball program at the city's only Indigenous high school is just three years old, with the girls team getting underway in the fall of 2016.

But the payoffs are obvious already said Guthrie, pointing to the example of student Morley Quillfrom Deer Lake First Nation.

"He'd never been involved in any kind of team, and at the beginning of the year, we'd be in the gym practicing and I could see him outside the gym, kind of watching through the window in the door."

Guthrie invited Quill to join in.

He was hesitant at first, said Guthrie, just sitting on the stage and watching the other boys playuntil one day he stepped onto the court too.

"Fast forward months to where we are today, most of the time I can't kick him out of the gym. When we're playing, he's the first one there, and he loves it. There's just this big, huge smile. He's having fun, he's learning, he's getting fit, he's meeting some friends and he's part of a community now."

In fact, Quill was one of four students, along with Guthrie and other members of the NNEC, invited to attend the Toronto Raptors game Monday nightand accept the cheque at half-time from the MLSE Foundation and the Just Energy Foundation.

Some of the money will go towards new equipment, uniforms and even running shoes, since many of the girls were using shoes donated to them from other high school players in Thunder Bay.

But Guthrie "started dreaming a little bigger" and thought of sending basketball kits to northern communities to encourage younger kids to pick up the sport.

Ultimately, he hopes to see DFC run a tournament for Grade 7and 8students from all across the north.

"What an amazing opportunity that would be for those kids to come to Thunder Bay to see what Dennis Franklin Cromarty looks like, as opposed to what they've heardmaybe in the news, and it also would put our current students in a leadership position where they could maybe coach those teams, maybe ref the games, maybe help run the tournament," he said.

"It's so nice to see those kids being supportedand being given opportunities they deserve, just as much as any other kid in town. ... and now that door is open, just a little bit more."