"What if?" That was the question asked by community coach Mitch Kostermann at a restaurant table almost a year ago. Mitch coaches the Langley GoldRush Jr. Wheelchair team and he launched his idea to a meeting of Fraser Valley coaches, Emily Herd and Brad Hagkull, who were invited together for a planning meeting by BCWBS Program Coordinator, Makiko Harada. "What if we were to try and get our teams to play each other? Instead of just having weekly practices in our own communities, let's give our groups a road trip to look forward to."
And that's exactly what happened on December 4, 2011. The GoldRush sent out an invitation to the neighboring clubs and 19 kids between the ages of 8 and 20 showed up at Trinity Western University's Gymnasium that Sunday night with the desire to play. Young people from Abbotsford, Maple Ridge, Surrey, Langley, Ladner, Chilliwack and Vancouver made the evening worthwhile.
After some stretching and warm-up activities, the players were organized into 4 teams with each team getting a chance to play the 3 others. Joe Higgins (Coach Joe), Bo Hedges (Coach Bo), Mitch Kostermann (Coach Mo), Steve Garrett (Coach Sto), and Brad Hagkull (Coach Bro) all provided the young players with insightful tips and heaps of encouragement the entire evening. When asked what they thought of the event, several "I thought it was awesome!"s were heard by organizers.
Bo, a national team member, also brought along his Bronze medal from the Pan-Am games and allowed it to be passed around the circle of students after the games were over. Some amazing prizes (including a portable hoop system donated by Coach Mitch) were also given out.
The evening was a fantastic one and caused some coaches to ask, "When are we doing this again?" These events don't happen on their own. Special accolades need to go out to Coach Mitch and Brad as well as Makiko for their efforts in pulling this all together. It was thought that another evening in the early Spring might bring out an even larger crowd. And to think it all started with a "What if? . . .
Many of these junior participants are also competing at the Annual Junior Wheelchair Basketball Challenge at McRoberts Secondary in Richmond this weekend, December 10/11.
