South Cariboo Basketball Association gaining momentum

With their first camp under their belts, the South Cariboo Basketball Association is growing in confidence.

Officially formed last fall, the SCBA is an organization that seeks to promote and develop the sport of basketball for the youth of 100 Mile House. It was founded by volunteer high school basketball coaches Andrew Steeves, Willy Hollet and TJ Grabowiecki who have spent every Wednesday for the last three weeks running a skills camp for youth in Grades 7 to 11.

“We did a skills camp and the emphasis was to try and get a little bit of visibility and get a little bit of momentum. Right now as an association, we’ve written and received a couple of grants so we have a little funding to put these things on,” Grabowiecki, a board member of SCBA, said. “We also hosted the U15 and U17 boys from Williams Lake on Thursday, May 16 for a couple of exhibition games. We’re just trying to get the kids out and play.”

Grabowiecki said that 30 students took part in their first skills camp, hosted in the Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School gymnasium. The camp was co-ed with several girls participating alongside the boys. Grabowiecki was happy to have them, noting that he and the other association members are keen to build up a girl’s basketball program.

“The SCBA would love nothing more than to see the sport grow on the girls’ side of things as well.”

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During the camp, Grabowiecki and the other coaches focused on basic skills such as shooting, guarding and how to work together as a team. The youth taking part seemed to have a great time, delighting in one-upping one another.

At Hollet’s suggestion, several older players helped mentor the younger players during the camp. Grabowiecki said he loved to see that, noting that Kolby Heit, who had rolled his ankle a few weeks before, taught one of the younger girls how to shoot while sitting in a chair.

Grabowiecki said there is a strong core group of players like Heit, mostly at the high school level, who make up the backbone of the association. However, every time they’ve run an event for the SCBA they’ve had more people express interest which he finds encouraging.

“Our training camp was only through word of mouth and me putting it out on Facebook a couple of times,” Grabowiecki observed. “Going forward we’re planning on doing another one in the fall to try and have a little more momentum going into the next basketball season.”

In the future Grabowiecki and the other members of the SCBA board would love to organize a regular summer league for the community. They’d also like to take the team to some tournaments held in Kamloops, Kelowna and Vancouver.

Grabowiecki said the SCBA’s biggest obstacle remains access to reliable gym time. With the schools closed for the summer they lose access to their gyms, with the only other available court being the new outdoor one in Centennial Park.

“What it boils down to is we need a rec centre, which would be helpful. Right now we have a nice new outdoor court we could go play in,” Grabowiecki remarked. “One of the things we spitballed at a meeting is hosting a three-on-three tournament, or something like that, there.”

Grabowiecki invites anyone interested in joining the association or helping out to reach out to him or one of the other coaches in person or on Facebook. There is a $20 fee to sign up that goes towards paying for their player insurance with Basketball B.C.