The newly-formed Cochrane Eagles U13 boys club basketball team is off to a flying start with a tournament win against some of the toughest teams in Calgary and across Alberta.

Confident in his team's strength, head coach Kris Nielson entered the team in the top 'A' division of the Vision Basketball Academy's 110-team Kick Off tournament, last weekend. His assessment was correct.

Sam Smilski of the Eagles.

The Eagles defeated the YYDC Elite, in a 52-49 thriller of a final after downing the Medicine Hat Golden Hawks, 94-18 in the first round and then coming up strong against the Calgary Rise Up Hoops by pushing an early lead to over 20 before finishing ahead 52-36.

Beating the Elite was huge for the Eagles. They are considered by many as the top team in the province and one of the best in Canada, explains Nielson.

"As the tournament started, it became obvious that we not only have a good team but that we have a great team," says Nielson. "By the end, we had won the tournament in an exciting championship game."

"We had huge contributions from every player all weekend and had some big moments on the way to the championship title."

The Eagles have also beaten the top team in the Calgary Basketball Academy and play Genesis tonight (May 8). That's followed by a few more games in May and some big tournaments before their season ends in early June.

The Eagles is a grass-roots, low-cost spring program for budding young basketball players.

With about 60 U13 boys teams in Calgary and 300 across the province, U13 basketball spring leagues are growing in popularity.