Basketball Saskatchewan presented the U16 Provincial Basketball Championship held at the University of Regina on July 16-28. The team representing Zone 4 played their last game against Zone 9 from LaRonge and Sandy Bay.
Pictured below from Zone 4 are Cole Wenet of Melville (with his hand up) and Tyler Boychuk (number 11) of Yorkton. Zone 4 lost this game with a close score of 46-43.Members of the Zone 4 boys team consisted on Derek Barr (Yorkton) Tyler Boychuk (Yorkton), Tyler Herman (Melville), Stephen Hutton (Melville), Darien Kequahtooway (Yorkton), Colin Shewchuk (Yorkton), Cole Wenet (Melville). The team was coached by Brian Chmarney (Melville).
It was successful tournament in that it allows for both players and coaches to continue their development in a friendly but competitive setting. The purpose of the U16 provincial championships is to develop basketball in all areas of the province. This tournament was for kids ages 15-16.
The boys enjoyed being part of this team and some look forward to returning next year provided they are the correct age.
Chmarney said that the program is a new thing that Basketball Saskatchewan is running an experiment with. Chmarney told Yorkton This Week that he didn't know all of his players very well and that it was going to be interesting to see how they would stack up against competition they don't normally see much of during their usual high school season schedule.
"It's a new opportunity for them," he explained via phone call. "Kids in the cities have been playing ball for a long time. This kind of opportunity is new to kids in this area," states Chmarney, who added that the U16 program itself is more of a "development" system at this point.
They ran the same program last year too, he says.
When the team played against larger centres of Regina and Saskatoon, those games were definitely an "eye opener" for the young locals.
The numbers on the scoreboard don't matter so much as the fun they have and the experience they will no doubt gain, he said.
"I knew we were going to be in tough."
Yorkton/Melville went up against the likes of Regina, Saskatoon and Moose Jaw. They did not win a game in six tries, but in Chmarney's mind that doesn't matter much, at least not at this point.
"It's more to give the opportunity to some of those players to play against (at a) higher level of basketball."
One thing they did manage to do was show their coach that they have the basics of what makes a good basketball player. Chmarney told the paper they all listened well and most of them were able to demonstrate an ability to show some leadership.
"Kids at this age..." explains Chmarney, "both their ability to listen, ability to step forward and make a suggestion" are all very very crucial.
