Submitted by Logan and Sarah Wray
This season has been a very rewarding one for Bashaw School’s junior high boys team.
The junior Rebels not only finished second in the league but took part in regionals as well.
As coaches we have been so impressed with the boys’ grit, we started off league play very strong with a win against Charlie Killam in December. Sadly right after that first game, we ended up losing one of our starters, Simon Yang.
The next game we played with eight players against the toughest team in our league, Camrose Comp., the boys worked so hard but we were outmatched. This league game was the only one we lost all year.
The team gained two Grade 9 boys in the following weeks and this helped to give us a few more players and really rounded us off as a team.
From start to finish our team operated under two principles: To work hard and to respect each other, our school and ourselves.
While our impressive season of finishing second in our division and participating in regionals was the icing on the cake, what we are proudest of as coaches is watching the personal growth in the boys.
Every game we played we had referees thank us for how well our team played and behaved; in our last game at regionals one referee came to tell us that the boys were his favourite team to watch all season.
Trophies tend to eventually fade as I am sure every parent can attest to, but the values our team displayed while having one of the best seasons in recent junior high boys basketball history is something that I know each of the boys will carry with them as they continue to grow into future community leaders.
