Fernie Elevate Basketball Club had an end-of-season victory at a tournament last month in Calgary.
The U16 Boys team played four games from Oct. 21 to 22 and emerged undefeated. They won 65 to 24 against Impact Basketball, crushed Respect Basketball with a final count of 71 to 34, scored 52 to 50 in a close game against Family Hoops, and took the lead on CYDC Panthers with a score of 74 to 28. They were the only team that wasn’t from Calgary.
Coaches Jared Musschoot and Kevin Fraser said the game against Family Hoops was particularly intense. The two teams were neck and neck until the final minutes when Elevate clinched the game.
“The team that we played [Hoops] was skilled. They play fast and we played a close game the whole game. I was really impressed … In offence we were calm, we were collected. We continued to play the way that we should play, even under stress. We moved the ball and got a good shot,” said Musschoot.
“The maturity and smartness of how we played on that really close team game showed how hard the group has come. We’ve been working and coaching with this group of boys five, maybe even six years, so we spent a lot of time with them … They’re really starting to show that maturity as they get older,” Fraser added.
The Elevate Basketball Club’s fall season is winding to close and the two coaches have turned their attention towards the school basketball season which starts in December. The Fernie Secondary School Falcons will play their first game on Dec. 6 in Elkford.
The club consists of players from a few different communities including Sparwood and Jaffray, while the school team that Musschoot and Fraser are coaching only has players from the high school. Musschoot said some of the club players carry over into the school season.
Musschoot said playing with teams in Calgary has left the boys well-prepared for the school season.
“It always helps when you play older teams. [They’re] bigger, stronger, faster. You can apply skills that you’ve learned in a way where you have to react faster, you have to make faster decisions,” he said.