Joe brought team Higgins to Powell River on the weekend of December 10/11 for his first-ever visit to the newly-formed wheelchair basketball club, the Powell River Ravens. In February 2010, the Powell River Disability Sport Club redirected their efforts exclusively on creating a recreational community team. In the past 8 months, over 40 Powell Riverites have tried their hand at wheelchair basketball with 15 or so becoming dedicated Ravens.
Powell River is located on the mainland coast of BC oriented west toward Vancouver Island. It is essentially an island and is isolated from other communities via a mountain range, inlets and the Salish Sea. Although Powell River is less than 100 highway kilometres from Horseshoe Bay, the two ferries along the way make the trip over 6 hours of travel time...but that’s the beauty of this little town.
Including team Higgins, over 50 people took part in this exciting event, with many more spectators looking on from the bleachers. To begin, on Friday December 10th Joe led team Higgins and a handful of Ravens through a demonstrative assembly for over 150 grade 8 students at Oceanview Middle School. Everyone there, including Principal Radcliffe and Phys Ed teacher Mr. Miller, joined in the fun by participating in a few quick games.Shortly thereafter, the Powell River Ravens joined Joe for a fun-filled 2 hour practise.
Beginning at 10 am the following day, Joe coached the Ravens through a number of drills followed by a round robin tournament after lunch. Just before the tournament began, a stand-up player arrived in waiting to use the gym following the Ravens. Joe quickly coerced this skilful player to hop in chair and join team red. In the end, Tyler made an amazing hook shot as the Ravens cheered him on loudly from all around the gym. Everyone who took part in this weekend had a blast while learning new skills.
This weekend would not have been a huge success without the support of Principal Radcliffe, Mr. Miller, Paul Blakeney, the Higgins (Joe, Louise, Erin, Christine, and Paula), and Tyler the stand-up player for being such a good sport. Thanks guys and we look forward to next time!
