There is little denying that Yorkton's high school basketball circuit has been blessed with a wealth of talent in recent years. Two straight Hoopla appearances in the 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons gave a fitting end to the high school careers of two of the best YRHS Raiders basketball players of all-time in Ben Redl and Daniel Mandziuk as for a handful of seniors who moved on from both Hoopla teams. With those players moving on as part of the natural cycle of high school athletics, head coach Jason Payne and the Orange and White are looking to continue where they have left off.
"Our goal every year when we get together is to make Hoopla," explains Payne, who mentioned that losing players he has worked with for years each spring with graduation is a part of the job. "Each winter you notice the change in faces from the last and miss great young kids you got to see grow for years."
This season the Raiders will be retaining the services of Tyrell Ulmer, David Balysky, and Alex Popoff as key returnees, but after two seasons of boasting high numbers of Grade 12's on their roster, a wealth of underclassmen gives this season a chance to be a building block for bigger things to come as the Raiders are loaded on Grade 11's and 10's who have came in from the Raiders Junior program.
"We have a wealth of Grade 10's and 11's this season which is great because it will give us a chance to build on something for the next two seasons at the same time as being competitive right away," adds Payne who mentions that being from a smaller city in the province playing amongst top 4A and 5A programs from larger centres, growing a team is usually the path to success.
"You don't often see a situation in Yorkton where you can reload every year like you might see in Regina and Saskatoon, and you have to always work with the students you have at your school to grow them as students and athletes in the first place so the more time you can coach a player the better I find."
One of the things the Raiders have done recently to help grow the program while getting more students the opportunity to play high level basketball was the founding of a more developed Junior Varsity program under coaches Perry Ostapowich and now Curtis Spelay. Travelling to top Junior tournaments for Grade Nine and Ten players in Maniotba and Saskatchewan as well as various Junior and Varsity tournaments locally, the Jr. Raiders team has helped give Grade Ten players who may have otherwise been cut and forced out of playing the game for a season have the opportunity to continue to practice and play the game they love while waiting for an opportunity with the Sr. Raiders the next season. Getting to keep kids playing being the most important thing for Payne.
"Starting the Jr. Raiders program as a program that went on the road to get exposure of high level basketball has worked on several levels for us in the fact that it has helped grow our program and has also allowed more students to keep playing the game they love and I have to thank the work of our Junior coaches for making it all possible."
On the court, expect a similar Raiders team to those of the past few seasons, but with one minor difference that will make any basketball coach excited. Extra size.
"There is the old cliche in basketball that you can't coach height, and we have a handful of guys that are over six feet and two guys who can play center for us this season so instead of trying to hide our size we will be one of the teams that can go out and impose our size on teams which is always exciting as a coach," says Payne.
The Raiders will kick off their season in Melville this weekend before heading to Saskatoon for their annual trip to the Centennial Charity Classic.
