Coaching changes are coming to the basketball program at Alberni District Secondary School, athletic director Mike Roberts said.
The senior boys’ team will be coached by the tandem of Neelam Parmar and Ryan Broekhuizen while Al Seredick is set to take the reins of the junior boys team.
While the boys’ teams are set there are major changes pending with the girls’ program.
Junior girls’ coach Nick Seredick and senior girls’ coach Greg Freethy are both taking some time away from the game to spend more time with their young families.
“The season requires a lot of time and commitment with practices, games, tourneys and other stuff,” Roberts said. “They feel they’re best needed where they are and we respect that.”
Seredick took the junior girls to the North Islands last March and missed advancing to the Islands.
Longtime former coach Brian Laviolette is dusting off the dry erase board to come back and coach the junior girls for one last hurrah before retiring next year. Laviolette has coached ADSS junior and senior basketball teams for more than 30 years.
Coaching the senior girls’ team is more complex, he said.
Freethy guided the senior girls’ squad to fifth place at the AAA Island Basketball Championships in Victoria last March.
Freethy won’t be involved in the day-to-day coaching and management of the team, but he isn’t completely stepping away. He’s available to assist with practices. And he’s mapping out a tournament schedule for this year.
The department has kicked around the idea of coaching the team by committee, and of reaching out to the coaching community in Valley to find a replacement. But nothing has been finalized yet, Roberts said. “We’ve still got some time to find a solution,” he said.
Foul shots... The first week of boys tryouts are slated to go from Oct. 22-24. Junior and senior boys will tryout at the same time, Roberts said. Girls tryouts are set to go in the week afterwards.