You will notice #WeTheNorthEnd popping up on our Twitter postings and on our T shirts this season, so we wanted to give you some background on why we chose that line. We obviously recognized the unifying power of the Toronto Raptors “We The North” slogan, and what it did for our country, but we also wanted to capture the unifying power that our league has had in our city.
Don “Pete” Petersen started the league to give the children in his community around St. Pat’s a safe place to play and learn the game he loved. For 62 years we have continued his dream, while expanding the league to give opportunities to children from across the city a chance to learn the game as Pete intended – in a safe environment, together, regardless of where you come from, and to learn the skills that make playing basketball fun.
“We The North End” is an attempt to capture the pride that Pete had in the players from his league, and the pride of participation felt by so many thousands that have come through his gym over the last 62 seasons.
We are the little basketball league that started at a north end school, and we are the league that has grown through Pete Petersen’s stewardship into a 38 team, 500 player, 100 volunteer safe haven for basketball development. This will, in all likelihood, be our last year playing at St. Pat’s before we move to a new school. Because of that, we wanted to pay homage to the magic we have had in that gym – Pete’s gym- for 62 seasons. We can say with pride to the Kingston Community, we ARE the north end basketball league!
