On December 10 & 11, junior athletes from all over the province as far as Prince George, Powell River, and Okanagan, and from Washington State converged on Richmond for the 2011 BC Junior Wheelchair Basketball Challenge. Host to two divisions this year, the 10ft performance and 10ft challenge divisions.
The challenge division was for our younger athletes and had many entertaining games. Everyone had lots of fun and was great seeing many young players make the jump from 8ft hoops to 10ft hoops. Some of the athletes even had a chance to play in the performance division and performed admirably and gained a lot of experience. This division had three teams the Gold Rush, the Cheetahs and the Jr. Sonics from Seattle. The Gold Rush took home the trophy, but it was the great energy and hustle that really defined this division.
The performance division was jam-packed full of intense games, seeing the Royals coached by Sr. Mens Provincial team member Anthony “AP” Purcell come out on top. Their height and speed was just too much for the other teams to match, with track star turned basketball enthusiast Tristan Smyth and Erin Higgins of the 2011 Canada Games team patrolling the paint they were incredibly difficult to slow down. The Dingos and Lions were incredibly even matched especially on the first day when the Dingos had one of their bigs. It came to a decimal point in the tiebreaker with the Lions edging the Dingos for second. The Dingos got a big boost from their trio of Challenge division imports Ben Garret, Hayden Hamilton and Caleb Hagkull and the Lions were led by the steady scoring of Jack Kosterman and solid defensive play of the entire team.
In the shooting contest, Joel Ewert won in the Challenge division and Tristan Smyth won in the Performance division. It was also great seeing many players from the Breakers and Gold Rush, BC-CWBL Division Two teams out as they continued to improve and work on their games.
The individual awards/all-star teams were as follows:
10ft Challenge
• Sharp Shooter: Ben Garret - Gold Rush (Chilliwack)
• Team Player: Joel Ewert - Cheetahs (Prince George)
• #1 Hustle: Joel Aukema - Gold Rush (Langley)
• Leadership: McKenna Dahl - Jr. Sonics (Seattle)
• Best Chair Skills: Ben Hagkull - Cheetahs (Chilliwack)
• True Sport Award: Olivia Williams - Jr. Sonics (Seattle)
10ft Performance
• Sharp Shooter: Amanda Yan - Dingos (Burnaby)
• Team Player: Nathan Bragg - Dingos (Maple Ridge)
• #1 Hustle: Justin Johnson - Royals (Langley)
• Leadership: Erin Higgins - Royals (Ladner)
• Best Chair Skills: Jack Kosterman - Lions (Langley)
• True Sport Award: Tristan Smyth - Royals (Maple Ridge)
Tournament Results
10ft Challenge
1st: Gold Rush
2nd: Cheetahs
3rd: Seattle Jr. Sonics
10ft Performance
1st: Royals
2nd: Lions
3rd: Dingos
Thanks to the coaches Joe, Arley, AP, Holly, Emily, Bo, Paul, Nathan, Jacob, and Brad for their encouragement and fabulous coaching. Thanks also to all the parents, volunteers, and Hugh McRoberts Secondary for their continued support of the Jr. Challenge.
Big thanks to our sponsors and funders for their support, without them we couldn't have this great opportunity for our junior athletes.
Sponsors/Funders: Province of BC, Rick Hansen Institute, McRoberts Seconday School Leadership Class, Save-On-Foods, Panago Pizza
You can find more photos taken by Gerry Kripps on his website.
Article by Nathan Bragg, Langley Gold Rush Coach/BC Athletes
