The Manitoba Games are coming up this weekend and athletes around Portage la Prairie and the Central Region have been hard at work in preparation

The Central Region Boy's 16-U Basketball team held one of their final practices at Portage Collegiate last night. Head Coach Darin Arnold's been a coach at the Manitoba Games before, and says it's an amazing experience for the athletes.

"I did it in 2012 up in Swan River, and it was just 3 days of fun because the kids get together the whole week. They get to hang out and the competition is good. They've worked 3 months for it, so hopefully they're ready."

McLeod setting up an inbound

The team's headed to Steinbach Sunday afternoon in preparation for the Opening Ceremonies that night. 17-Year-Old Bailey McLeod's ready for the competition.

"Yeah I actually am, a lot of hard work and I'm pretty prepared. If we push through the first game, hopefully we can get a chance to get into that gold medal game."

Martens breaking in for a layup

This is also 17-Year-Old Tyler Martens' second time at the Manitoba Games, he went for soccer in 2012. He feels they've got a lot of skill, but they're still struggling to gel as a whole.

"Mostly our team chemistry is pretty low right now, we definitely have to bump that up before the games start."

The Central Region's Boy's Basketball team's first match of the tournament is Monday at 12:45 against Winnipeg.