CARLYLE - High school basketball is back in the South East Public Cornerstone School Division. Recently, Carlyle’s Gordon F. Kells High School Cougars hosted the Arcola Panthers before a boisterous crowd.
Lars Guenther is the principal of Manor School and before Christmas formed a co-operative team with players from Carlyle, Bellegarde, and Manor. The team consists of Grade 10-12 students and they play an informal schedule against schools such as Arcola, Oxbow, Redvers and Moosomin.
They have already played in some weekend tournaments and plan on entering more. The season began in mid-December and ends in March.
Refereeing the recent Panther-Cougar game were Elmer Jove and Tom Broccolo.
“This was my first game as a referee,” he proudly said. “Basketball is a very popular sport in my home country and is by far my favourite. I really enjoy helping.”
Broccolo coached Carlyle student basketball several years ago, but with he and his wife Lindsay raising their young family, decided to step away from the team. Like Jove, he really enjoys the game and is pleased to see it back in the schools.
Jacquie Walbaum has been the head coach of the Arcola Panthers for the past four years and is assisted on the bench by Stoughton resident Shayne Foster.
“Arcola is a K-12 school but we only have a handful of high school kids that play basketball. Therefore, we need the younger grades to help us build a stronger intermediate team.”
This past summer, 15-year-old Ilya Didur and his family, the Boikos, moved from Ukraine to Carlyle. He has decided to give basketball a try and joined the team.
“My favourite sport back home was Thai boxing, but they don’t have it over here. So, I have decided to try basketball. It has been fun, and I am starting to like the game,” he said.
Guenther is a veteran educator whose primary interest is in physical education and coaching. By far, basketball is his favourite sport and his passion.
“We have a great group of kids to work with and I am enjoying every single minute of coaching them,” he said.
