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INUVIK - It's the time of year for basketball fever and the only prescription is a local tournament.

Earlier this week, Samuel Hearne vice principal Lorne Guy said the annual three-on-three tournament was off to a great start.

Jason Baxter, left, does his best to keep the ball away from Terryl Vittrekwa during their first game of the three-on-three basketball tournament. The games started on Tuesday at lunch hour and end on Friday afternoon. - Dez Loreen/NNSL photo

Guy said the games were played at lunch time to take advantage of the gym space.

"It's a nice opportunity for the kids to sweat it out in the gym and have a good time doing so," he said.

"This is our fourth year doing this."

The event started on Tuesday at lunch hour and finishes with championship games on Friday afternoon.

After spending the first day of games in the middle of the action acting as timekeeper, Guy said he was satisfied with the event.

"I think three-on-three basketball is one of the most exciting games you can play because all the kids get involved," he said.

Although the tournament is designed to be played with three players from each team on the court, a lack of senior high student registration kept their games two-on-two.

"We have a lot of junior high participants, but we didn't get too many players from the senior classes sign up this year," said Guy.

As an added perk to paying the $5 registration fee to enter the playoff, each player was registered with the NWT's basketball association.

Guy said most of the players in the tournament were already registered with Basketball NWT from past programs in the elementary school.

"Most of these students were probably registered in Grade 6 through programs put on by Jason Dayman," said Guy.

"He runs a nice program down there."

Guy said there were 65 participants in the tournament this week.

Of those participants, Guy estimated that about 20 of them were new to the tournament style of play.

The week of games was split due to a conflicting date for the faculty of the school.

"We're having our games today (Tuesday) and Thursday and Friday at lunch," he said.

Wednesday afternoon was used for professional development, so Guy said the games were postponed for the next day.

Championship games are scheduled for Friday. The tournament is separated into four divisions: senior girls and boys and junior girls and boys.

"Each pool has three or four games each day," he said.

For the final set of games, each team will play off, with the winning teams facing off for the championship.

Guy said the tournament is also serving as a training tool for those teams going to the Cager tournament in Yellowknife.

"They've been practising twice a week, sometimes more," he said.

The tournament used most of the space of the gym, with one of six baskets being used for each pool.

Guy said a problem with one of the hoops kept the organizers from using the whole gym, but the players are sharing the space instead.

"It would have been nice for each pool to have their own basket," he said.