Elite Renfrew basketball program drawing players from across Canada

A new elite basketball program is attracting the best young players from across Canada to the Ottawa Valley.

Renfrew Prep Basketball is a program geared to drive high school aged players to the top of the game.

In its first year, Renfrew Prep has assembled a team of players from Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, as well as a handful of local kids.

"We wanted to grow the game of basketball in town and we all knew it's a hockey town, and we were looking for some alternative," says the program's founder Marek Kopiowski.

Basketball programs such as Renfrew Prep are normally found in cities such as Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto.

Beckham Beardsley (left), founder Marek Kopiowski (centre) and coach Tanner Kozum watch the Renfrew Prep Basketball practice. (Dylan Dyson/CTV News Ottawa)

"I think we are the smallest prep academy in Canada, in the smallest town," Kopiowski said.

To compete at this level, the program costs families thousands of dollars to enrol their children, with games being played in Toronto, and tournaments in the United States.

It's a level of commitment not normally associated with basketball in Canada, with players travelling far from their families and living with billets.

"(The level is) probably like the OHL or the WHL, Quebec Major Junior, somewhere in that area, because these kids are still in high school. They're playing an elevated form," Renfrew Prep head coach Tanner Kozun said.

Playing at a skill level that high, Renfrew Prep bills itself as the path forward for young players.

"It's not a guarantee, but it definitely gives you the opportunity and the gateway to be able to achieve that next goal, whatever it might be, post-secondary or pro," Kozun said.

For players like George Omuha, who moved from Calgary to Renfrew in order to play basketball, small town life is just what he needed.

"It takes you away from the big cities and one thing that big cities have are a lot of distractions," Omuha says.

"People want to go out and party and do this and do that. But in a little town like this, there's not really any distractions but school and basketball."

"We wanted to cancel the noise from the outside," adds Kopiowski.

"We want our players to come to this program and upgrade their grades, get looks from university, and focus on the basketball."

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It also opens up new opportunities for local players like Beckham Beardsley of Shawville, Que.

"I've never seen anything like this around, no one even thought of this," Beardsley told CTV News. "At first I found it a bit odd to be placed in Renfrew, because you know, it's Renfrew."

"The level of competition that you'll see here is better than any I've been a part of my whole life," said Omuha.

These players are now hoping their decision to commit to small-town basketball will be the correct one to fulfill their big basketball ambitions.

"I want to play pro basketball," Omuha said.

"Whether that's overseas, the NBA, G League; just to play pro basketball."