It’s an annual sight in Kingston: hundreds lining up, some with sleeping bags and even tents, for a shot at registering their child with the Pete Petersen Basketball League for just $10.
“It’s sort of like Best Buy on Black Friday,” league president Roland Billings said.
“People get here bright and early to sign up to get one of the 474 spots we’ve got in the league.”
The low cost is made possible in large part because the Algonquin Lakeshore Catholic District School Board has provided the gyms for free throughout the league’s 71-year history, Billings said. Fundraising also helps subsidize the costs. Spots for the 18-game season are only available in person. There is no plan for opening an online registration option.
“You have to understand that there are a lot of people that don’t have access to that,” Billings said. “The in-person registration levels the playing field.”
Jamie Romero was the first in line — arriving at 2:30 p.m. Friday for the 8 a.m. Saturday registration — and described a joyful community atmosphere.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
“It’s a cool experience. The kids play basketball pretty much all evening and then get a few hours of sleep here and there.”
Michaelangelo Mundacruz, also in the queue, said, “Everybody knows everybody, and everybody is welcoming.”
Single mom Lisa Brushey said she looks forward to the overnight wait and appreciates that the registration is “very light on my pocketbook.”
“I see a whole bunch of people that I know. We just kind of mingle and talk. It’s like a sleepover for adults.”
Despite the league’s long history, it’s only been in the last three decades that demand has resulted in such intense demand. Billings said he was looking at “an old clipping we had from 1986” that offered three separate registration dates that still didn’t fill up.
Now, he said, the hardest part is having to turn some kids away.
“We just don’t have the space or the infrastructure to go any bigger than what we are and we’re running five divisions four nights a week. You don’t want your eight-year-old playing at 10 o’clock at night, right?”
As the sun rose Saturday morning, volunteers walked up and down the line, handing out coffee and snacks and organizing impromptu games to pass the time.
When 8 a.m. hit, the doors opened to a flood of parents and guardians hoping to get their kids a spot.
— With files from Global News’ Paul Soucy
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.