AUNDECK OMNI KANING—Four Directions Complex was the place to be on Sunday, December 10 if you love basketball.
“I bring my son Ethan every Monday night to train with Coach George in Sudbury,” said Amanda Laforge, one of the many parents sitting in the stands. “There’s obviously an interest here,” Ms. Laforge added, taking in the court filled with young children. “This is amazing.”
The program began with kids between the ages of nine to 12. With demonstrations of lay-ups, dribbling, passing and general rules of the game, the coach and his two assistants let the players work at developing their skills for about an hour. Organized chaos was how it appeared to the casual observer, but clearly a great deal of fun was part of the agenda. After an hour-long instructional period, the small athletes were divided into three groups and each team donned a different colour of jersey – red, black or white. For five minutes per game, the red jerseys played the black, the black jerseys played the white and then the white jerseys played the red, all the while learning to pass, dribble, stay within the boundaries of the court and, sometimes, score a basket.
Coach George Serresse had a moment to speak between the programs of the two age groups. “Yes, if there is enough interest; hopefully through the winter we can come down here once a month, then in the spring, if that generates more interest, we can look at doing this once a week,” he said.
Coach George was happy to offer information about his background and credentials. “I grew up in Sudbury,” he said. “I graduated from Laurentian University in 2013, where I played basketball. Then I played professional basketball in France for four years, I played with the Sudbury 5 for several years and last year I was the interim head coach of the Laurentian men’s basketball team. Now I run a basketball academy called Sudbury Basketball Facility (SBF). There, we specialize in basketball skills development.”
Nelson Wood, teacher and coach from the Pontiac School in Wiikwemkoong, was gathering up his charges at the end of the first session but still had a moment to talk. “I brought about 17 kids from the Pontiac School,” he said. “We had a few more, but I think hockey prevailed with them. I’m trying to convince Coach George to come out to our school so we could avoid the travel. We came by bus,” he added, “and it’s a bit of an issue.”
Only time will tell how this plays out. The number of older athletes, ages 13 to 17, was far smaller than the younger crowd. Stay tuned to find out if and when Coach George returns to bring his basketball expertise back to Manitoulin Island.
