With the high school basketball season starting, the Alberni District Secondary School senior boys and girls basketball teams got together to show off what they had in store.
Senior boys coach Neelam Parmar said he feels good about the upcoming season.
“In terms of what we can do on the court, I think we can compete with most teams on the Island and give them a run for their money.”
However, Parmar admitted that with smaller players this season, it’ll be more of a challenge.
“We’re a little bit smaller this year so we have to make a few adjustments for that,” he said.
“We are faster so if we can we’ll use our speed but it has to be a controlled speed.”
Controlled speed and traditional man-to-man defense allowed the boys to win the Parkland Panthers Tournament in Sidney on Dec. 5-6.
“I used a more traditional approach and that’s how we were able to win that tournament,” said Parmar. “I think we’re going to have to stick with the meat and potatoes, play man defense and play hard.”
Looking ahead at the 2014/15 season, senior boys team captain Kevin Titian Jr., 17, said he felt “pretty good, looking at the team right now.”
The girls also did well at a tournament the same weekend.
“We won two out of three games and we worked really hard as a team, especially for our first tournament,” said senior girls team captain Makenna Harding, 17.
“I think it’s going to be a really good season, we have a lot of good girls and a really good team.”
Senior girls coach Al Seredick agrees.
“We had a disappointing first game but we won the two after that because we executed a bit better.”
Looking at his team, Seredick is confident about the season to come.
“We’re pretty balanced this year. I’ve got a couple of really good guards and I’ve got some bigger players...so we can compete on the inside a bit more.”
While Seredick hasn’t seen all that the North Island League has to offer, what he has seen leaves him feeling positive.
“We can definitely compete with all of them and I’m hoping we’re going to have a good finish in our league.”
Both the senior boys and girls basketball teams will compete in the 60th Totem Basketball Tournament from Jan. 8-10, 2015.
JUMP SHOTS...The senior boys’ team vs. Duncan Christian School Dec. 9 was cancelled due to unsafe travelling conditions...The boys were 0–3 at the LA Matheson tourney in Surrey, losing 48-45 vs. Notre Dame, 76-69 to Charles Best and 74-42 vs. Princess Margaret.
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